Sunday, February 28, 2010

Carnival in Catarina.....















Ash Wednesday was February 17th signalling end of Carnival and beginning of Lent - right?? Tell that to the revellers high in the hills in the tiny, remote village of Santa Catarina who were still happily in the middle of Mardi Gras on Sunday February 21st....















It's very hard to call a halt to fiestas here in Mexico especially if it involves costumes! Mexicans adore dressing up, masks and masquerades - any excuse!!












Half the men were dressed up in lavishly lurid costumes that mocked the Spanish Conquistadors who had dared to invade their land...




















Check out the white masks, pointy beards, top hats, suits, ties, gloves and colourful umbrellas which were just so wonderful for twirling....
















The other half were in drag (real women were sadly only specatators) with some making much better women than others. Mexican men seem to adore getting in touch with their "feminine" side and sexuality can be very fluid...















Check out some of the burly biceps here...... and it was this masked"guy" on the right who had somewhat alarmed us earlier in the day by suddenly popping up in the middle of a field as we were driving by oblivious that a carnival was afoot...
















It was such a wonderful scene to stumble across completely by accident - another reminder that Mexico indeed is the Land of Magic Realism - serendipitous surrealism!! My two favourite images of the day are this guy in drag who began it all, and this little guy on his first carnival outing...


















I also liked the fact that the very few Mexicans who had cameras were all asking to take photos of us (an unmasked Brit and a Canadian not in costume) as obviously we were the real oddities of the day!! A day that had all started out oh so normally with the Priest welcoming all the villagers to church...
















For more gorgeous glimpses around the world this week, check out My World Tuesday posts by clicking here... Enjoy!

11 comments:

Owen said...

Simply amazing scenes ! Love it ! Would have loved to have been there... You remind me why we blog... to constantly travel to wonderful new places...

Lynne with an e said...

Wow! Your blog is so colourful and lively! I think I'll hang out with you...
(found your nice comment about my Photoshopping around over at Owen's blog. Lovely to meet you.)

A Cuban In London said...

Well, for starters I didn't know that Lent had started although my wife making pancakes should have been a sign. I loved the photos. You're giving us so many different insights into Mexican culture. Many thanks.

Greetings from London.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Cathrine: Fun look at your fun in the sun.

Sistertex said...

Looks like such a fun time...great place. Thanks so much for sharing, it is very colorful!

Sylvia K said...

Oh, what a delight your posts are, Catherine!! And this one is fantastic! Talk about colorful and different! I love it! Thanks for the fun! Have a great week!

Sylvia

Hazel said...

What a colorful fun display! I love scenes of revelry from tiny, remote villages. They're just so charming (unspoilt, no aura of urban issues). The little boy wearing an old man's mask is cute :)

Indrani said...

Such fun filled shots! Interesting knowing about this culture.

Fly Girl said...

What a colorful event to happen upon! Yep, some countries are still doing their Carnival revelries for a fews days after Lent, who wants to stop all the fun to suddenly become sober and abstain for whatever you've given up for the season? I think I like the photo of the littlest partier the best!

xxx said...

I'm pleased I landed in your corner of the world today.

Wonderful post and a very entertaining blog.

thank you

Ribbon

Catherine said...

Glad everyone enjoyed the vicarious trip to the Carnival...