La Quinceañera

The Mighty Cardón

The transition from childhood to womanhood is a significant passage for adolescent girls in almost all cultures. In Mexico, it is marked with a celebration named for the girl’s 15th birthday. It is similar to the traditional debutante’s “coming out” party in other cultures. The celebration is a way to acknowledge that a young woman has reached sexual maturity. If you’re invited to a traditional Quinceañera celebration don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy this important event.

The celebration starts with a Mass in the church. The girl arrives decked out in a fancy frilly dress, usually  in pastel tones. Sometimes a matching hat or headdress is added to her attire. She is seated at the foot of the altar throughout the service with her parents and padrinos (godparents). The Quinceañera may be accompanied by up to seven damas (maids of honor) and seven chambelanes (attendants) selected from among family and friends. At the end of the Mass younger sisters, cousins and friends pass out bolos (favors) to those in attendance while the Quinceañera deposits her bouquet on the altar to honor the Virgen de Guadalupe.

After Mass, most families honor the Quinceañera with a Fiesta. The degree of opulence is directly related to the economic means of the girl’s parents and padrinos. They started saving for this event on the day of the Quinceañera’s birth. The Quinceañera Fiestas in East Cape are usually held either in family homes or in the local Cancha (ball court). The area is decorated with balloons and streamers mirroring the pastel color of the Quinceañera’s dress. Food and music are part of the celebration as well. Sometimes a local band is hired. To cover the expenses the padrinos may sponsor the music, bar, cake and table favors.

Raucous banda and salsa tunes tend to dominate throughout the Fiesta (not unlike other local Fiestas). The culminating moment comes when the Quinceañera and her number one chambelane dance to a traditional waltz. Next the parents and padrinos come to the floor to dance with the couple. After this the assembled guests are free to join in. The Fiesta often lasts until the wee hours.

Mexico’s Quinceañera celebration is thought to have originated with the Aztecs. According to Bernardino Sahagun in his chronicle, Historia de Nueva España, it was traditional for the parents of a young Aztec maiden to formally acknowledge her passage into womanhood. This included a stern but tender exhortation to observe acceptable modes of behavior. Today the celebration of the Quinceañera remains as one of the rites of passage that keeps the bonds of the Mexican family firmly cemented.
 

The Cardón cactus is the world’s largest cactus. The cardón is nearly endemic to the deserts of the Baja California peninsula. The name “Cardón” comes from cardo which means “thistle” in Spanish. When Hernando Cortez attempted to establish a settlement in Baja in 1535 he thought it was an island. The many spiny cacti he found earned it the name “Isla de Cardón”.

The first description of the Cardón cactus comes from the writing of Jesuit priest, Don Miguel de Barco of the Mision San Javier in the 17th century. Padre de Barco wrote: “This tree, although full of moisture, is found only on dry lands, on level and sloped ground alike, provided that there is no moisture nearby, for this is shuns…Whence then does it draw that moisture and the sap with which it is replete? Not from the rains, since these are very scant in California, and therefore, where there is no permanent spring and one must rely on rainwater alone, nothing can be sown or planted…The Cardón, however, even though years may pass without rain, shows no sign of distress: it perseveres serenely, with the same fresh green color and the same abundant sap, as ever….”

Many visitors to Baja mistake the Cardón for the ecologically similar Saguaro cactus. However, the Saguaro does not live in Baja. While there are a few stands of Cardón found on the Mexican mainland in the Sonora Desert, they seldom occur near the Saguaro. The Cardón occupies only the relatively frost free regions of Baja’s deserts. It grows best in the deeper soil of the alluvial fans of arroyos and other waterways. It can be found between sea level and about 950 meters (3200 feet) in elevation from near El Rosario in the north to the Cape region.

The main trunk may have as many as 25 vertical branches up to 1.5 meter(5 feet) in diameter. In older plants the branches are usually taller than the trunk. Woody vertical “ribs” allow the branches to expand and contract, storing the water it needs to survive in arid conditions. Cardóns also have extensive shallow root systems which quickly capture Baja’s brief torrential rains. A large Cardón may store over a ton of water in the fleshy, pulp-like tissues of its trunk. In order to support this great weight, the Cardón has an interior framework of hardwood vertical rods, lightweight yet extremely strong. These rods stiffen the ribs.

From March through June white colored flowers appear on the upper tips of branches. The flowers open in the afternoon, stay open all night and close about mid-morning the next day. The reason for this is that the Cardón depends on nightly visits from nectar feeding bats for pollination.

The Cardón, like other columnar cacti of the Sonoran Desert, has survived the harsh, arid conditions for thousands of years by its ability to adapt. When small, the Cardón has many spines on its trunk to protect it from predators. But, as it grows, the main threats to the maturing Cardón are overgrazing by cattle and clear cutting by humans.

Cactus Boots

“Cactus Boots” are found in the Cardón. They start with a woodpecker hole, beetle bite or any number of other events that would cause a hole in the outer layer of the Cardón. This wound grows larger and probes into the soft center of the ribs of the skeletal structure that supports the cactus. Cardóns respond to this intrusion by healing themselves from the inside, thus protecting the cactus and creating a cozy casa for many members of the animal species. As a larger creature burrows into the Cardón the room expands. In this way, “Cactus Boots” can accommodate larger birds, iguanas and even a group of family members. It’s a win-win situation. By the time Cardóns send off a branch they are very old, maybe 70 years or more, When you see a many-branched Cardón you can bet it’s muy Viejo. There will also be many “Cactus Boots” in it…a virtual Cardón apartment house. La Nativa

Diá de la Bandera – 24 de Febrero

Juramento a la Bandera

¡Bandera de México!  Legado de nuestro heros,
Símbolo de la unidad de nuestros padres y de nuestros hermanos,
te prometemos ser siempre fieles a los principos de libertad y justicia
que hacén de nuestra Patria, la nación independiente, humana y generosa,
a la que entregamos nuestra existencia.