Cultural Experiences

Jardín Zenea has an elaborate nativity scene complete with flying angels, prickly pear cactus and kings approaching from other parts of the park. 

Missing from the scene is El Niño Jesús. 

My ¡SpanishDict! word of the day is pesebre, which means manger. The examples given:

1. Juanito, ¿qué hacen estas ovejas en el pesebre de Jesús?

     Juanito, what are these sheep doing in Jesus's manger?

2. El pesebre estará vacío hasta el veinticinco de diciembre.

    The manger will be empty until December twenty-fifth.

Okay, that makes sense. 

What we couldn't figure out was the message of the devil scene across the plaza.

We were told that life is a struggle between good and evil. That is also reflected in the seven-pointed piñatas we see everywhere this time of year, including hanging from the ceiling of the mercado. The seven points represent the seven deadly sins, which are pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. 

Where the pedestrian walkway Calle 5 de Mayo meets the east side of Jardín Zenea, next to Templo de San Francisco, is a stunning statue called El Danzante Conchero Chichimeca. 

The dancer has a headdress of pheasant feathers, and on his legs are rattles made of seeds from the ayoyote tree. 

We were shopping for souvenirs on our last night in Querétaro when the sound of drums drew us to El Danzante. We were really pleased to find modern conchero dancers dancing. 

Many mysteries surround the Dance of the Concheros. Some claim it originated in Querétaro to commemorate the defeat of the Otomí by the Spanish conquistadors, but that doesn't make much sense to me. It is more likely a pre-Hispanic ritual that the conquistadors were not able to suppress, despite the punishment they inflicted on the indigios who didn't fully abandon their own culture and embrace Catholicism. 

In the center of the circle is a drummer who plays a variety of rhythms with a stick on a conga-like drum. Some of the dancers wear rattles around their calves to simulate the sound of rain. A few played mandolins, although the traditional instrument associated with concheros is made from the shell of the armadillo, which is believed to have ancestral wisdom. 

The dance is said to unify the participants with the cosmos and establish harmony. In the middle of the circle, in front of the drum, are some ritual symbols. The incense burner represents Fire. The conch shell, which a dancer occasionally blew, represents the Wind. Water is in a container and the dancers, some of them barefoot on this cold night, dance on the Earth. 

We were told that the dancers were probably members of the Otomí tribe. The dance may have spiritual, cultural and political meaning to the dancers. Each year on September 12 to 15, dancers come to Querétaro from all over the country for La Fiesta de los Concheros. 

Steve said, "That's why we love México! There's always some amazing happening!"