This past weekend is a perfect example of one which will probably never occur again in my life... Not only did I get to go to a traditional Mexican wedding, but I also had the opportunity to try on Mexican wedding dresses with some of the other volunteers. And the exciting news: we're going to be in a wedding catalogue!! Keep your eyes peeled :)
When I say traditional Mexican wedding, I didn't know what to expect when we first went up to Santo Domingo Ocotitlán. Soledad, the lovely woman I work with, was nice enough to invite me to the festivities. She had the honor of being one of the godmothers of the wedding, meaning she is in charge of a certain aspect of the party. She was the "cake godmother," meaning she provided the wedding cake (which turned out amazingly well as you will soon see!) Being a godmother, she could invite whoever she wanted, and I had the chance to go!
The wedding was very interesting because it wasn't the first time the bride and the groom had been married. Years ago, they had their civil marriage, and this one was their religious wedding (there are two types of weddings in Mexico). With just a civil wedding, they weren't considered married under the eyes of God. One year ago, their son died in an accident, and his wish was that they got married in the church. So, this wedding was a little bittersweet because they were celebrating their holy matrimony while also honoring their son's memory. Above, you can see the novia (bride) walking into the church where they had the misa.
The wedding was very interesting because it wasn't the first time the bride and the groom had been married. Years ago, they had their civil marriage, and this one was their religious wedding (there are two types of weddings in Mexico). With just a civil wedding, they weren't considered married under the eyes of God. One year ago, their son died in an accident, and his wish was that they got married in the church. So, this wedding was a little bittersweet because they were celebrating their holy matrimony while also honoring their son's memory. Above, you can see the novia (bride) walking into the church where they had the misa.
As someone who has never been to church, it was quite an experience to see the whole process, which involved not only singing and prayer, but a baptism, confession, the eating of the Eucharist, and a point where everyone went around, shook each other's hands, and said "que la paz esté contigo" (that peace is with you).
After the misa, we headed to the fiesta, which was held at the novio's house. Here's Sol and her husband, Francisco, enjoying some of the yummy food at the wedding. We had fresh tortillas, nopales, arroz, y carnitas for dinner. And of course a few chelas to wash down the food :)
Probably the most entertaining part of the wedding was the traditional baile de huajalote, which means turkey dance, and is a dance that is specifically used in Ocotitlán... This involves an actual live turkey being hoisted onto the back of the groom, who then proceeds to dance around in a circle with the bird. Then, everyone else proceeds to dance with the groom and the turkey. The procession then walks to the house of the bride, where the turkey is presented as a gift to the family. El huajalote represents prosperity and good health, but all I could think about the whole time was the poor turkey being upside-down and how it would soon be made into a turkey dinner.
For the rest of the wedding, we ate a lot of yummy food, danced some traditional Mexican wedding dances, listened to banda music, and enjoyed the bottles of tequila that were being passed around. Above you can see the huge wedding cake that Sol contributed to the fiesta. It was quite the cultural experience!
On Sunday, we met up to do the vestido de novia photo shoot. Sol's mother owns a wedding dress store, and is starting a campaign in order to advertise her dresses. So, we offered to be her models and try on all of her dresses :) Here are some photos we took, and eventually the catalogue will come out with all the finished photos:
The catalogue should be coming out within the next few months, so I'll post some of the final product when the time comes!
Along with a productive wedding weekend, we had some fun garden adventures during the week:
The other volunteers came to Santo Domingo Ocotitlán with me and Sol to install a water irrigation system, and also work in the garden. We finished weeding the rest of the beds, which were overrun with big nasty weeds, and also almost finished the water system, which will be used from now on to water the plants!
We also had a very appetizing lunch of tacos acorazados, which is a taco with rice, meat, nopales, chiles, and whatever else you want to put on it. We then cooked up some corn on the cob (elotes) as a final lunch snack.
After a hard day of work, we kicked off our dirty shoes and stuck our feet in Casa Hoy's pool. Chilly but refreshing!
I also had the opportunity to work with a new organization this week called CultiNatura Orgánicos, which is a small organic family farm that sells their organic products to local markets, restaurants, and neighbors. They have the most delicious strawberries, lettuce, spinach, and tomatoes I've tried since being here!
Along with helping out in the garden, cleaning strawberries, painting the greenhouses, and watering the plants, Alex (the founder of the organization) and I washed his cute little doggies, and cooked some amazing dishes using a lot of the produce from his backyard! Here's a veggie lasagna we made using spinach and tomatoes from the garden.
And a kick-ass organic salad made with fresh fruta y verduras!
Coming up in a few days is Día de los Muertos, which is one of the most celebrated holidays in México. It occurs on November 1st and 2nd, and is a holiday to remember family and friends that have passed away. The volunteers and I will be headed down to Oaxaca for the festivities, so keep your eyes open for next week's blog about this very cultural holiday!!!
¡Nos vemos!
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