The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-11
La Fiesta de Los Angeles.

To the Editor of the JOURNAL. AND COURIER:
Every year when Fiesta comes around
then we think that the show can by no
possibility equal for magnitude and
beauty the pageants of the preceding
years, and every year we are happily
disappointed. This year being no ex-
ception, we have been treated to a
spectacle, which was not only entirely
different from any other, but which
in its way surpassed anyone previous
ly seen or heard OF. Floral festivals in
this land of many holidays are too fire.
quent to excite much remark, and flow
ers by the basket full, the wheelbar-
row load, and the wagon load, are not
so uncommon as to require comment,
but this year they seemed to be in un-
usual abundance.
1t may, perhaps, be proper enough
in some places to refer to the "leafy
month of June" but around here we
may we'll say the fiowery month of
April" in such profusion are the BIOS
SONS, especially this season, which has
been favorable for them, and they were
lavished in the most extrayagant way
upon everything belonging to the pa
rade, so that not only the sidewalks,
but even the very roadways were lit
tered with them, and some of the cleo
trio cars We're literally out Of sight, be-
ing entirely covered, roof and sides,
with flowers, while seemingly the sup
ply was no way diminished there being
Az 1aft for a nf Rnsae -
where the army of combatants pelted
each other with blossoms of every
kind and color. And then the street
decorations, how gay they We're; how
fantastic, and how profuse. No rules
of art or architecture had anything to
do with the fancy of the decorators,
which had full play with the most daz-
zling results.
One of the chief attractions of one of
the professions was the great Chinese
dragon, said to be more than six hum
bred feet long, and large in proportion,
covered with scales Of gold and silver
embroidery, and with plates of polished
brass; never before seen in these parts,
it was brought down from San Fran
cisco for this special occasion. Truly
| it was a monster, and though it had to
be somewhat shortened in order to ac-
| commodate it to the sharp corners and
| tortuous curves of Chinatown, still it
was long enough and gorgeous enough
for all purposes, and its contortiohs
and griinaces were surely amazing,
while the gaping, wondering, admiring
crowd of Cinnamon, dressed in silks,
| brocades and embroideries of all the
| colors of the rainbow, and who lined
| the route, We're indeed a sight to see.
| Anyone who has ever seen a full Chi
nese band in curious costume, and has
heard the dreadful and discordant mu-
sic it produces from instruments re-
markable, knows very well what music
| is not, but the great dragon was ac-
companied by three of these inharmonic
societies all in full blast,so that to
stand by and not be deafened was a
! difficult thing to do, while the inStru-
ments of torture which preceded the
monster and which were calculated
| to annoy and intended to enrage him
were enough to cause all quiet citizens
who had any respect for their ears tc
| take to the house tops.
| Another feature of another process
/
fornia, Don Ignacio Francisco De La
| Cruz, man who was born long before
| George Washington became the first
| president of the United States, and who
| after living in this favored country SO
long is still we'll and spry and able Ia
ride on horseback as well as the other
| caberellos, though on this occasion, as
being the oldest inhabitant, he was Civ.
en- a place of honor in one of the car
riages, and followed on in the suite Of
the Queen.
And then the Pueblo Indians, just
from their reservation and who have
never before seen the ocean. What 2
brave show they made, travelling il
stately and dignif1ed procession, every
squaw with an earthen water pot or
grain basket on her head, and all the
papooses carried in regulation fashion
all these following hard on after tn;
great dragon and the Chinese bands