We walked around the entire Riverwalk loop and then headed up to walk through the city. When we arrived at the top of the stairs leading up from the Riverwalk we ran smack dab into this:
...a HUGE line, literally hundreds in size, winding its way toward the Catholic Church. (The church, all lit up, was a scene in its own right.) But we were pretty intrigued with the line. It seemed to be primarily Hispanic, and many of the people were holding flowers. I suggested to Nick that there might be some kind of viewing or funeral proceedings in process. On the other hand, maybe they were allowing people to tour the church. If there were tours going on, we would join in. For a funeral, we would opt out. So we asked the last family in line. No habla Ingles. So they called over a friend who supposedly did habla. "Did someone pass away?" I asked. "Yes," she responded seriously. "Who was it?" (Yes, this conversation is starting to border on nosy and rude at this point.) "I don't know."
She told us she didn't know. She was waiting in a line 500 people long to deliver flowers to a dead person she didn't know. It was incoherent enough that we blamed the language barrier and asked someone else. This time we approached a security guard. We figured an authority would probably know what was going on. "It is a funeral for the Virgin Mary." I said, "Oh??...hmm." He said, "You know, like to celebrate." Did I mention that this man was Hispanic, too? Celebrating the death of the Virgin Mary, you say?
Eventually we discovered that this is a traditional Mexican procession to honor the life of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Don't ask, because I don't know any more than that. But, hey!, the church is great...stunning outlined in lights.
Nick says we ended the evening by making a contribution to capitalism. He's wrong, but he did spend money at the end of the evening. A large--family? group of friends?--set up a Gordita stand right outside of the V of G's life celebration:
Nick bought a $5 Gordita and a $2 cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate. The Gordita, I'm told, was good. Hot, spicy...and as of yet, Nick doesn't have food poisoning. The Mexican hot chocolate was the consistency of tapioca pudding (yes, with the lumps) and was fairly nauseating. I later got a Starbucks Latte. Such an improvement! Anyway, I'm sure these people were NOT legal. Quite a few San Antonions aren't. So, whether capitalism profiteth or not remains debatable (at least whether American capitalism benefited). Still, it was a fun night.Tonight Nathan is going to attend Festival of Lights. Both of his Grandpas are in the performance: Grandpa Jones sings in the choir and Grandpa McNeil plays the trumpet. Nathan has literally been counting down the days until he would get to see Scrooge. I wish I could go along, but I think Nick and I will have to settle for watching Festival via the Internet.
I'm getting anxious to see Nathan and Nia. They've been gone so long! Lottie is going to have a rude awakening when she discovers that she is not the only child. Speaking of Lottie, she is playing the role of Jesus in the Christmas musical at our church. She will be in performances on Saturday and Sunday nights. I'll have Nick snap some pictures of her and 'Mary.' (Mary, by the way, is played by the most beautiful 18-year-old from church...long, dark hair and just...well, just beautiful. You'll see in the pictures.)
We are praying that Lottie will be a quiet 'Jesus.' She usually prefers having a pacifier, but since babies born 2000 years ago didn't have Nuks, she will be going au naturale. We'll see...
No comments:
Post a Comment