Category Archives: Festival

A Small Town Pilgrimage

My family travel to Mexico during the winter to see our extended family, partake in the festivities, but specifically to my mother to make a “pilgrimage”. Every year in January, a parade celebrating the Virgin Mary occurs, and so does a festival. This lasts nine days, but this part is more religiously focused than it is on fun and games. In the morning, people gather at the entrance of town and begin their walk to the church in the town’s center. Whilst walking, people throw confetti to decorate the large image of the Virgin which is at the forefront of the parade. The rosary is recited out loud as people pray along and hold candles. The walk ends as the people arrive at the church and the bells begin to ring loudly as the people enter the church. Mass follows after the parade.

Ceremonies like these are very special to the more religious people in the family such as my mother and my grandmother and the other ladies of the town. Not many show up to this parade as they do with the correlating night festivities, but it is still culturally significant to the communities as it defines an important aspect of Mexican national identity and its close relationship to Catholicism. At least that’s how older generations feel more so than the younger.

I myself remember holding my mom’s hands during these parades and seeing how devoted she was to these processions. I also came to regard these as integral parts as my identity as a child descending from a Mexican Catholic family.

Fiestas Patrias (Patriotic Festivals)

During the 15th and 16th days of September to commemorate Mexican Independence Day, my parents’ hometown throws a festival. Like in other festivals, they hold a competition to elect a “queen of the festival” as well as tournaments with horse races and even rooster fights. Parades also occur about the town where children and students partake in them. Well known bandas (bands) are invited to perform in the town square so that many people would want to go and dance along. Bailes folkloricos (folkloric dances) also take place with competitions between different dances from different states competing to win. Overall, people gather to dance and celebrate their nation with others.

My mom recalled these types of celebrations as a young woman when she and her family would go and see the bands and the dances. She mentioned that a these are typical traditions of small towns in Mexico. Usually local and involving song and dance with a number of competitive events.

I myself have never gotten to see these type of celebrations but my mom mentioned how they were the festival mostly centered in national pride and identity more so than others. These celebrations seemed more unique as they weren’t heavily tied to religious occasions. As the name implies, they were very patriotic and traces of these festivals are seen here in the U.S. when on these days, people drive their cars with Mexican flags waving in the back.

Coloquio (colloquium)

According to my dad’s recollections, this type of gathering was one where people did stand up comedy upon a makeshift stage. People would also put on play productions with costumes and dance around in tomfoolery. A show of fireworks would also be part of these gatherings, but after one incident involving a cousin of my dad’s where a firework failed to take off and exploded causing his death, the gatherings were discontinued.

My dad said these gatherings stopped occurring sometimes in his teen years (1970’s) after the aforementioned incident. He recalled going to some and seeing the fun people had. It was a gathering for people to be silly and enjoy comedy. He sounded sad retelling what happened to his cousin and very nostalgic as he often refers to his teen years as “the good old times” as one does.

I tried to imagine what these would have looked like and to me, I picture them like a comedy show put on in a ranch with people laughing and drinking. I could imagine the sadness people felt after the unfortunate circumstances that ended this joyous tradition.

Tinikling

Context: My informant is a direct family member

My informant says that Tinikling is “like a dance in the Philippines, you do with bamboo sticks”. She describes it as a traditional dance where two people are supposed to hold very long bamboo sticks on the opposite ends and there are two dancers coordinating together in the middle. It can be a very difficult dance, and it is a lot like a game. But it is still a performance.

My informant recalls that a lot of Filipinos kids (mostly girls) might learn this in school, or even outside of school because of the game aspect. And she notes that this tradition along with many Filipino traditions may stem from Spanish culture due to colonization.

It can be difficult to do it correctly, and you could easily trip if you and your partner make a mistake. But a lot of Filipinos have fun with this traditional dance.

She does remember this dance from her early years in school where it is thought so that it can be performed in a yearly school performance or presentation. She also interprets this dance as a fun part of Filipino culture. Because it is not strict to just performance but because it can be done by anyone even without it being something that has to be presented in a certain way.

Analysis:

Tinikling is certainly a folk tradition and folk dance. The dance is also performed at festivals.

Tinikling seems to be a part of Filipino culture for a very long time. And although it is a part of the history of colonization that the Philippines has endured, the tradition has seemed to be fully embraced and seen as something endearing and fun. It has been removed from the possible pain that the colonization has caused. Because the dance is flexible in its form, it can be done “formally” and traditionally through performances and yearly performances done at schools but it is also done at the homes in the Philippines or even right by the streets.

As my informant mentions, this dance is taught at many Filipino schools, it is well-known by many. The folk dance seems to be carried by pride, fun and even nostalgia. If this dance was not taught to someone in the Philippines, someone who does know could gladly teach it.

Seattle Autumn Harvest Festival Social

This story is from a Chinese-American friend from Seattle whose mother works for Microsoft. She is a first generation Chinese-American, with both her parents immigrating from China before she was born. The story is about her experience watching her mother dance in the Chinese dance troupe at a big social for the Asian community of Seattle to celebrate the Autumn Harvest Festival.

Text

“Every few times a year, my whole family attends my mother’s dance performance to be her biggest fans. Her dance troupe dances for Chinese festivals, from New Year’s celebration to the Autumn Harvest Festival. When it becomes 8 pm, the light shines on her dance troupe, and she shines the brightest with the prettiest face and prettiest embroidered dress. The performance is an accumulation of all of her love and passion for Chinese dance. She is a busy working mom, who barely has enough time to sleep, but she insists on tirelessly improving dancing because it is her passion.

My family would feel inclined to say that her dance performances are the magnum opus of these events, but my personal and secret favorite part in volunteering in the events. My mother has danced in these festivals for pretty much all my life. I have attended every single one! These festivals would take place in large rented out churches to multiple entire buildings, but they were filled in and out with celebrations of Chinese culture. There were many stages that held skits (I was forced to be part of some before), Chinese puppetry, and many booths that teach Chinese art. When I was younger, I was the one of the children who would run to every corner of the event, collecting every free stuff, getting the sickest face painting, and watch every skit that related to things I enjoyed. My parents weren’t able to keep up with my enthusiasm, so I ran around with my fellow friends.

When I became older, I attended every festival as a volunteer, and brings me lots of happiness to bring the same joy I felt in the past to other children. I am proud to hold the title as the “cool face paint sister who can draw anything.” After being unable to take a break for hours as the lines keep building (i remember eating steamed dumplings covered in paint residue), many of the children and even adults get some sort of mark of my artistry on them. It made me even happier that they loved it after completion. After around like 7 hours of volunteering, I finally get to rest at 8pm though! And watch my beautiful mother dance.”

Context

“This event began to recently be sponsored by Microsoft because all of the performances are usually done by people who work for Microsoft or their kids, and sometimes people who are friends with those Microsoft families cuz in Seattle pretty much all Asian families work for Microsoft or are friends with someone who does. So it’s become a thing where all of the Asian population of Seattle shows up.”

Interpretation

In my friend’s beautiful story, I noticed that there’s a strong family and community element to this event. All ages and occupations, from working mothers to families to little kids, are involved and there seems to be an event for every group (eg. face painting for the kids.) Because it’s a family event, there’s also a strong emphasis on passing down Asian/Chinese culture to the next generation so that the kids who grow up in the United States are still connected with their heritage. Furthermore, I thought it was really interesting that Microsoft itself recognized and supported the Asian community in its workforce, something that was completely optional for them to do. Perhaps Microsoft thought that supporting this community was important to unify company culture and present an image of itself as culturally aware and tolerant.