The Coolidge examiner., 1936-06-05


with crowns of thorns on their
brows, and small boys clutched at
the crucifiXes.
From Guadalajara out to the sub
urban church at Zapopan is but a
short trip by tramcar; but during
an August feast poems hobble out
to 1t on their knees, taking all day.
When prayers are over they stage a
costume play depicting the Spanish
conquest of JaliscO. Then Indian
players dress and act the parts of
Spanish knights and the local In
dian characters of that conflict. In
recent years education has been
taken away from the church, and
the new generation tends to aban-
don these mimetic dances and dra-
matte rituals.
The chief edifice in Guadalajara
is the cathedral; its twin towers
rise over the city, visible for miles,
On feast days long strings of lights
illuminate the towers, and at East
er the bishop washes the feet of
twelve old men, chosen at random
from street crowds.
Rushing to aid the king of Spain
in the PeninSular war went many
men of Guadalajara. Legend says
money was sent, too, raised by melt
ing gold and silver plate and candle
sticks from the cathedral. In graft
tude the king gave this church
Murillo's great painting, "The AS
sumption of the Virgin" still hang
ing in the cathedral though many
attempts have been made to buy or
purloin it.
BuIl-Fighting Loses Popularity.
The bull ring is here, of course;
but such sports as boxing, football,
and baseball have robbed it of old
time popularity. Despite it's con-
tinuous appeal to the peon, who
glories in its cruel, CORY combats,
and survival Of a few other ha-
bitues, bull-fghting as business
is on the uecllne.
Bulls from Spain are still sent to
Mexico City, where tourists help
support the arena, and some fight
ing animals are still raised on the
West coast ranches for Guadala-
jara. One Of these is the old Ran
cho San Jose de COnde, in Navarit,
which dates from 1850. 1t is one of
Americas oldest ranches. It's out
put of small, black, savage bulls
went on for generations. To per-
petuate the fighting instinct, the
rule on this ranch was Kill every
bull calf that does not seem to hate
men," Such a plan insures a bull
ferocious as any wild animal. One
young bull on this ranch chased a
vaquero up a tree and kept him
treed till he nearly died of thirst.
When Cortez conquered Monte
yuma and founded New SPAIN" he
had with him one Don Nuno de Guz-
man, who soon rose to power and
grew Jealous of his chief. Eager TO
gain more hOnOrS and riches for
himself, De Guzman, in 1929, quit
the Aztec capital, with picked Span
ish troops and many TlaXcaltecan
Indian allies, to explore the I'M
known regions farther west and
north. In their travels, De Guzman
and his lieutenant, Cristobal de
Onate, came upon a huge Indian
stronghold, Nochistlan. Fighting
ensued, and nearby the Spaniards
built their camp, cluster of huts.
Though moved about later to vari-
Gus neighboring sites, town was
laid out about 1880. 1t was named
for De GuZman'S home town in
Spain, Guadalajara, from the Moor
ish Wad-al-hajarah, meaning River
of Rocks. From the king OF Spain
the new town got its coat of arms
in 1889; so it was really white
settlement nearly a century before
the English landed at jamestown.
BY 1860 Guadalajara had become
important. IlS CIllCl dIlIFlIy NdS
Indian slave hunting, and the driv
ing of these to work IN the gold and
silver mines. Vast fortunes were
thus amassed, luxurius homes
were built; and New Galicia, of
which Guadalajara was the capital,
then included not only the present
state of Jalisco, but much of what
is now five or six other Mexican
states, reaching up to Sinaloa.
Visit certain old Guadalajara fam
ily homes now and you are aston
ished at the wealth and beauty of
heirlooms from colonial days. Hand
made silverware, even table services
of gold, heavy Spanish chests bound
in leather and copper, miniatures,
jewelry, crucifxes and old paintings,
| guitars, inlaid with pearl, historic
weapons. hand-carved tables, and
other furniture so heavy that it can
be moved only with difficulty. The
old handmade locks on front doors
are often so massive that the key it
self may be as big and heavy as
common hatchet, say foot long.