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Wedding in Oaxaca

The Calendas are a fundamental part of the festivities in Oaxaca. The party is an event that manifests joy, renews and strengthens family, community and personal links. It is an understanding among inhabitants who share the same belief, the same religion and devotion. The party is, and it has been, the time to open itself and our fellow men; to enjoy after a long time of hard work; to put aside the secrecy and break the routine; to show the patron's Holy how important it is in the community; and until the time to ask for some favor through a wish.

The Calenda is announced to the four winds and, at the same time, an open invitation to join the party. Friends and neighbors are seen to parade between colorful costumes, marmotas (globe on a stick) and Oaxacan Chinas.

Waiting outside the church.
At the door of the church of Santo Domingo, the participants in the Calenda wait for the guests and the bride and groom to leave the church.


An Oaxacan China.
An Oaxacan China waits with her basket of flowers on the floor.

  • You can not miss the Oaxacan Chinas, their delegation with their baskets ornate with beautiful natural flowers on their heads. These Oaxacan Chinas are invited by the godmother or godfather of the Calenda. The godmother invites friends to join the party and her role is to dance and beautify the act with her beautiful floral arrangements loaded on her heads.
  • These baskets are heavy and expensive. The party requires that waste, time and money.

Lined up in two rows.
Participants are lined up in two rows towards the church door.


The Oaxacan Chinas in the lead.
The Oaxacan Chinas are at the front, right next to the church door.

  • The beautiful women could not miss this; the Chinas Oaxaqueñas adorn the entourage with their baskets full with beautiful natural flowers on their heads. These girls are invited by the “Main Godmother”, which in turn was selected by the butler of the party. The godmother invites friends to join the party and her role is to dance and beautify the act with her beautiful floral arrangements loaded on her heads. These baskets are heavy and expensive; the party requires that waste of time and money. It is a must for this kind of procession.

The black cock.
The Oaxacan Chinas wear their traditional costume. In the basket, above the flowers, they have the representation of a black cock.

  • The Mexican reverence toward the gallus domesticus is reserved for the gallo giro, the fighting cock.
  • Rooster fights are an acquired cultural feature, the origins of this activity are linked to the Spanish presence in America.
  • However, the precise place of origin cannot be determined, nor the specific date of entry to the American continent; although it is affirmed that its appearance, adoption and diffusion date from the 16th century.
  • The historical roots refer that the fight between two trained roosters was brought to America by Hernán Cortés, who organized the first cockfight to impress the Aztec emperor Moctezuma in Tenochtitlán.

Shepherds walking on stilts.
Peg stilts, also known as Chinese stilts, are commonly used by professional performers. These stilts strap on at the foot, ankle, and just below the knee. Peg stilts are often made from wood. This type of stilts are the most lightweight ones and allow a user to walk quickly, to turn suddenly, and even to jump rope or dance. The stilt walker must keep moving at all times to keep their balance.

  • The inhabitants of marshy or flooded areas sometimes use stilts for practical purposes, such as working in swamps or fording swollen rivers. The shepherds of the Landes region of southern France used to watch their flocks while standing on stilts to extend their field of vision, while townspeople often used them to traverse the soggy ground in their everyday activities.
  • The local festivals of Anguiano (La Rioja, Spain) feature a dance on stilts in which dancers go down a stepped street while turning.

Putting the basket on top of the head.
The Oaxacan China puts her basket of flowers on top of her head.


The opening of the door.
The church door opens and the first guests begin to leave. The ceremony inside the church is over and the party is about to begin.


The orchestra (right) begins to play.
All Chinas have their baskets on their heads. They are ready for the party to begin.

  • The calenda is led by the ancestral sounds of the drum and the chirimía (oboe), which remind us of the spiritual origin of the party. The chirimía throws wind chords into the air and the drum rumbles melodically to the beat of the sweet sound of his partner.
  • The wind band was inherited from the French tradition and it is said that Oaxaca adopted this beautiful musical group since there are many breath bands in the state. The band will play throughout the calenda, it rains or thunder, that does not matter, music is another aspect that seals to the announcement of the party.
  • Then, the rumble of the cuetes and cohetones (firecrackers) launched by coheteros (firework) experts announces the proximity of the walking party. It should be said that the cuetes are handed by the person in charge and lit with cigar, there they go, to heaven, drawing a trail in the air until he dies in an explosion. The cohetones, the largest, are thrown from a base and they do the same as the cuete but with greater intensity.
  • Although it sounds dangerous, the cuetes and cohetones give life to these calendas and it would be inconceivable to live one without these rumbles. Cuetes and cohetones are made of reed in many city workshops.

The bride and groom leave the church.
In the center, we can see that the bride and groom have just left the church.


Greeting the newlyweds.
The groom and bride are greeted by all those present.


The dance begins.
The dance on stilts begins. The Chinas also begin to dance.


Greeting the attendants.
The bride and groom greet the attendants.


Photos cannot be missing.
Attendants and tourists take the opportunity to take pictures.


Drones are present.
Two drones hover over the procession to film from the air.


The giants do not miss the party.
Two monos (giants) represent the bride and groom.

  • The mono de calenda is a giant puppet used in the festivals or calendas of the state of Oaxaca. These are controlled from inside by a dancer, can be of different sizes and are normally dressed in typical state clothing.
  • Sanchez’s writings assure that in the middle of the 18th century (1741 approx.), the so-called Mr. Tomás Montaño y Aarón, for greater splendor, arranged for the procession to open up light-colored stick figures lined with paper or blanket, of enormous size, within which was a person manipulating them, representing different types of races, as a symbol of Jesus’ empire over humanity. The idea was copied and transferred to ‘the walks of the groundhogs’ and the carts full of actors in colorful costumes, which since then were preceded by the “giants”, name with which the people designated the figures.
  • Nowadays, these giants and marmotas are made of reed structure, are dressed in baggy clothes, and the head is made mostly with mache paper. Their dance is vertiginous in the turns, they almost lose verticality and their arms follow the inertia of the movement, both are always accompanied by the chords of a wind band.
  • See more at Mono de Calenda - Wikipedia.

The facade is completely illuminated
The facade of the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán is completely illuminated by the sunset.

  • As an anecdote, it is that when the sun is setting, the whole church is illuminated, and you can really appreciate all the architecture.

A large marmota with the name of the the groom and the bride announces to everyone who is getting married.
The marmotas (globe on a stick), born of the collective imaginary and according to the stories, typical of the neighborhood of the Merced of the Oaxaca capital, decorate their movements of turns that surprise connoisseurs and visitors.

  • The chronicler Jorge Bueno Sánchez details that the origin of the Calenda is linked to the Dominican missionaries of the sixteenth century. “Oaxaca was evangelized by Dominican friars, attentive to their apostolic mission took advantage of the experiences of the evangelization of Europe to solve the problem of Christianization of a territory densely populated by indigenous people”, he adds. He also indicates that the friars formed huge spheres of reed, lined with blanket where religious mysteries related to the feast to be celebrated were painted. These spheres that the people knew by marmotas had lit candles inside so that, at nightfall, they simulated stars and colorful balloons. The marmotas, living proof of the doctrine, left the neighborhood in the afternoon, roamed the streets of the city or the town and at midnight they were delivered to the parish church accompanied by the crowd of the people carrying candles, lanterns, flowers and reeds adorned with paper flags.

Advancing to the front.
The bride and groom advance to the front of the procession.


Carrying the basket of flowers.
An Oaxacan China carries her basket of flowers with the black cock on her head symbolizing fertility.

  • The symbolic meaning of Huaxtepec, a very famous Aztec garden, show how it could have reflected some concepts of the pre-Columbian world view. Aztec and Maya societies were essentially agricultural. Thus, their main preoccupation was fertility, which they tried to maintain through the cult of gods associated with water and earth. Human life was impossible without earth, plants and animals. In a world where the sacred was conceived in terms of deified forms of the cosmic human and vegetal cycle, gardens, like the one in Huaxtepec, became important spaces for ritual celebrations.
  • Chinampa is a technique used in Mesoamerican agriculture which relies on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico. The Aztecs created the very first Chinampa. Flowers also continue to be grown on these plots.
  • See more at Chinampa - Wikipedia.

Towards the Zócalo.
The procession leaves the atrium of the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán and walks down the street towards the Zócalo (the main square) of Oaxaca.

  • Like in other Spanish settlements in South America, Oaxaca’s zócalo was designed as a central square that would represent the two principle colonizing institutions and their power in the city: the church and the monarchy. It follows, then, that the dominant buildings on the city’s zócalo were the Catedral de Oaxaca and State Government Palace.
  • Once the Plaza de la Constitución was established in 1529, Alonso Garcia Bravo used the plaza as point of reference by which to plan the rest of the city, giving it a central location in the new city.

Bride and groom looking at each other.
The groom and the bride look at each other happily.

  • Arranged marriages used to be the norm, serving more as a business deal between families than a love match. In fact, the couple didn't just spend the morning of the wedding apart: There was a time when it was totally normal (and even expected) for the couple to have never seen one another before the wedding at all.
  • The deal was usually made by the bride's father, who wanted his daughter to marry rich to help his own family. However, he might worry that if the groom saw the bride before the ceremony, he might not find her attractive and could call off the wedding—leading to serious shame for the bride and her family. So to avoid risking the family's reputation, the tradition that the couple didn't see each other until the ceremony was born.
  • The veil comes into play here, too. By having a veil over the bride's face, the groom wouldn't see her until the very last moment (at the end of the ceremony when they're meant to kiss) when it was too late to back out. The superstition about a bride and groom seeing one another before the ceremony has evolved into the (much more romantic) idea that the couple shouldn't see each other until they're at the altar or dressed in their ceremony attire. Today, it can symbolize the pair coming together to start their lives in front of the people who have supported and loved them along the way.

The scarecrow.
The scarecrow holds a prominent place in popular cultures around the world.

  • Farms were always subject to the whims of nature, and the farmer lived at the mercy of a capricious environment. A drought or flood could result in starvation. An infestation of pests could devastate crops, a plague destroy the livestock. The scarecrow could also have served as an effigy, a form of substitute human sacrifice. The scarecrow would be offered to the natural world in place of the living, that nature might be sated.
  • Like the gargoyles on the gothic cathedral, the scarecrow might have been a hex to protect the farm from harm and keep evil spirits away.

The scarecrow's outfit.
The scarecrow's outfit is made from colorful strips of fabric. He has a big straw hat on his head.


The huipil and the skirt.
The Oaxacan China spin around showing off their beautiful traditional skirts. The skirt is worn over a white huipil (tunic).

  • The huipil is a tunic-like garment made by stitching together anywhere from one to five pieces of cloth. The most common fiber is cotton, but there are those made from wool and silk as well.
  • The huipil began to be worn with other garments, especially European skirts, during the colonial period. This led to changes in the garment itself and how it was used. In some cases, the huipil became shorter, to function as a kind of blouse rather than a dress.
  • See more at Huipil - Wikipedia.

The silk rebozo.
The China proudly flaunts her silk rebozo (shawl) over the white huipil (tunic).

  • Although there are no immediately obvious Chinese references in the costumes the dancers sew themselves, or in the jewelry they wear, the Chinas Oaxaqueñas retain their enigmatic name, which comes from the Barrio de China, a neighborhood that was home to a large population of Chinese factory workers and builders in the mid-20th century. Known in Spanish as Chinas, they taught the native Oaxacans in their neighborhoods how to do silk embroidery, and their legacy remains in the silk rebozos — the shawl-like scarves that add brilliant, but demure, coverage, for a dual purpose that is both reverent and festive.
  • See more at Rebozo - Wikipedia.

The Concheros dance.
Two dancers are dressed in traditional costumes. Notice the large headdress on top of their head.

  • The Concheros dance, also known as the dance of the Chichimecas, Aztecas and Mexicas, is an important traditional dance and ceremony which has been performed in Mexico since early in the colonial period. It presents syncretic features both pre-Hispanic and Christian. The dance has strong visual markers of its pre-Hispanic roots with feathered regalia, indigenous dance steps and indigenous instruments such as drums.
  • Although the dance tradition has been known (especially in the U.S.) as "Aztec" or "Mexica," it is neither. The roots of the conchero dances (and thus the roots of the modern "Mexica" dances tradition is deeply rooted in the Chichimeca cultures of the north. The Otomi, Jonaz, Chichimeca, Caxcan, and other tribes never conquered by the Mexica, are the true roots of the Danza Conchera. Whereas the Mexi'ca rituals were based on solar concepts and values, the Chichimeca were rooted in selenic and stellar cosmology. Worship and honoring of family and cultural ancestors was a large part of the Chichimeca tradition.
  • See more at Concheros - Wikipedia.

The chupito (shot).
The bride drinks from a traditional tequilero vase (vaso de chupito).

  • The shot glass (also known as a vaso tequilero in Mexico, or caballito; internationally known as shot) is a glass with a capacity between 30-60 ml (1 and 2 US fl. Oz) with a cylindrical shape and a slight angle that makes the mouth wider than the base, designed to serve chupitos (shots).
  • A chupito (shot) is called a small volume drink (generally an alcoholic beverage with a high alcohol content) that is served in small glasses (no more than 5 or 6 cm high).
  • It is swallowed in one gulp.
  • See more at Vaso de chupito - Wikipedia.

Dancing down the street.
The bride and groom also dance down the street.


Carrying a pink balloon.
A girl carrying a small pink marmota (balloon).


Wearing a long huipil.
Her beautiful huipil (tunic) is traditional.

  • The huipil can vary in length from a short blouse to a garment long enough to reach the floor. The style of traditional huipils generally indicates the ethnicity and community of the wearer as each has its own methods of creating the fabric and decorations. Ceremonial huipils are suitable for weddings, burials, women of high rank and even to dress the statues of saints.
  • The huipil has been worn by indigenous Mesoamerican women of both high and low social rank since well before the Spanish invasion. A characteristic item of Aztec clothing, it remains the most common female indigenous garment still in use.

Stopping to dance.
The bride and groom stop to dance.

  • Among the Aztecs music, song, and dance played a very important role. Centuries before the European conquest flourished a rich music culture in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan and the centres of neighbouring kingships in the Valley of Mexico and beyond.
  • Musical sounds, song and dance movements were of religious meaning and often accompanied ritual acts, such as offerings and sacrifices. Music and dance were understood as a sacrificial gift to the gods.
  • Interestingly, there was no Aztec word for music. Music was the “art of song” (cuicatlamatiliztli) and musicians did not play but “sang” on their instruments. To dance was “to sing with the feet”.

The sun.
The basket of flowers that Oaxacan China is carrying on her head has a representation of the sun.

  • In creation myths, the term "Five Suns" refers to the belief of certain Nahua cultures and Aztec peoples that the world has gone through five distinct cycles of creation and destruction, with the current era being the fifth.
  • In the Aztec and other Nahua creation myths, it was believed that the universe had gone through four iterations before the current one, and each of these prior worlds had been destroyed by gods due to the behaviour of its inhabitants.
  • The current world is a product of the Aztecs' self-imposed mission to provide Tlazcaltiliztli to the sun, giving it the nourishment it needs to stay in existence and ensuring that the entire universe remains in balance.

One more chupito (shot).
Two friends link their arms together while drinking.


A caballito for the groom.
The groom also takes a chupito (shot).

  • According to the Mexican Academy of Tequila, the origin of the name caballito, the other name of the vaso de chupito, comes from the haciendas where maguey was produced in Mexico in the 19th century. Different mezcals are extracted from maguey (or agave), such as tequila. The owners of the place used to supervise their lands on horseback, and with them they carried two gourds (containers), one for water and the other for tequila. Curiously, the name pony glass (a small breed of horse) has also been recorded in English since the 19th century, due to the small size of the glass.

Towards the end.
The end of the Calenda is in the house of the butler, where a dinner is offered, accompanied by music, lots of beer and mezcal for all attendees.

  • This is another beautiful tradition rooted in Oaxaca; a procession that involves many aspects organized by devotees who, with great faith, celebrate their people, their Saint, their friends, relatives and even their enemies that cease to be after a good mezcal and a good piece to dance.

See also

Sources

Location

Location: Oaxaca, Mexico