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| Altepeilhuitl |
To this celebration, some of the saints from other churches are
beautifully adorned with fruits, pumpkins, chili peppers, maize
and bread. This is one of the most important celebrations of
the region and it has been carried out in this sacred city from
very remote times. It is done the Sunday before Thursday of the
ascent of Jesus Christ in the Real Chapel.
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| Tlahuanca |
Its name is carried out to the fourth Monday of lent in the Real
Chapel. This celebration is derived from a celebration that years
ago was made in the streets of the center, during which locals
drank in excess (Tlahuanqui - drunk), nowadays is a single procession
within the real chapel in which wood crossings are given to people,
and the butler offers a food to all the travelling ones.
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| Fiesta
de Pobres y Labradores |
Also well-known as the festivity of the Santísima this
is a celebration that approximately lasts a month between the
months of May and June. The participants in this celebration
includes: Retailers, Woodworkers, Farmers, Agricultors and Floricultures.
It’s finalized with the procession of la Santísima
Virgen de los Remedios by all the people from the
districts towards the parish of San Pedro where it remains for
30 days and each union and family donates a mass in thanksgiving.
At the end of these activities the virgin returns to her Sanctuary.
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| Procesión
de los Faroles |
The night of August 31 this celebration is carried out and consists
of a route by the streets in which all of the districts participate
with their own saints. At nine o clock at night there is a very
solemn mass in the convent of San Gabriel, during this
time the people who come in way during the procession are praying,
singing and firing rockets, this route finalizes in the vestibule
of the Sanctuary of the Remedies place where mass is listened
during all night, and then the “mañanitas” in
honor to the Virgin are intoned.
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Fiesta a la Virgen de los Remedios |
Of September 1st to September 8th the celebration to the Virgen
de los Remedios is organized. It is by far the most important
festivity in Cholula. There is a great activity from the morning
to the night, Groups of “concheros” dance ritual
dances and the travelling ones offer presents to the virgin in
the evening.
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| Trueque
(Exchange) |
After venerating the virgin, people from diverse places take
advantage to sell or to carry out the ancestral exchange in front
of the city hall. The products that we can find are: The white
charales, cheeses of Chiautla, medicinal grass, cueclas, ocote,
incense, nuts and fruits of diverse regions of the state. .
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| Feria |
At the pre-Hispanic time Cholula she was considered as an important
cultural and religious center, even as important as the Basilica
de Guadalupe.
The Gods that venerated here were Quetzatcoatl “God of the retailers
and merchants” and Chiconauhquiauhitl “God of nine rains;
which was replaced by the Franciscan monks. It was replaced by the celebration
of the “Virgen de los remedios” being
the date of celebration September 8th.
For such effect it was accustomed that foreigners due to
importance of these Gods went to visit the place once in their
life. In order to venerate the Gods there was a ritual in which
by sacrificing a person, offered their heart
and returned with the body later to eat it in their respective places of origin,
all this ritual was accompanied by music.
Because they were from distant places they brought with them
the products that they elaborated and they interchanged them
with other towns, the change was product by product, they carried
out the exchange.
At the present time the festivities begin from the first
days of the month of August, there are daily celebrated masses
paid for by districts, towns, brotherhoods and industrial or
commercial, devotee and particular brotherhoods, unions, unions,
companies, when it is the turn of the towns and districts these
celebrations extend until day September the 8th.
The ending day of these festivities is September the 8th,
this day there are diverse masses, and as it happened at the
pre-Hispanic time, people from diverse places arrive to venerate
and to show their gratefulness to the “Virgen
de los Remedios”. When the people go down the “hill” they
take occasion to sell or in its defect to carry out the traditional and ancestral “exchange” on
the esplanade of the city hall, in front of the majestic 44 arches of the city’s
vestibule. Between the products that we can find they are: the white charales,
carps, cheeses of Chautla, medicinal grass, resins, mecapales, acocotes, cases,
saffron, peanut, nuts, and fruits of several places like San Martin, Huejotzingo
and Zacatlán, in addition to diverse artisan and decorative products like
bed rolls, chiquihuites of twig, baskets, pots of mud, wood utensils etc.
The District of Santa Maria Xixitla is the district
to make all the arrangements for the mass in September 8th,
this district besides organizing the mass, make their change
of butler of the district and instead of bringing a person
to sacrifice they raise up the “hill” a “fat
one” (that is a doll done of Chinese paper and rockets
that it has inside apples which fall of their “belly” when
finalizing his burn). This doll once burned is lowered and
taken to the district by the people who were in charge to collecting
the money that is needed for its elaboration for the following
year.
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| Tlachihualtepetl |
Everything was order and harmony in the plateau of the Anahuac,
at a time that is lost in the history that a single greatness
of Xelhua has managed to keep itself in the memory of the grandparents. Xelhua, Ulmecatl, Mixtecatl, Chichimecatl and Tecpanecatl were
brothers. They were special beings, they were chosen
of the Gods, they were giant; their corpulent bodies, their
force, but above all…their wisdom, its what made them
respectable between the macehuales, that blindly obeyed their
orders, because their figure was as great as its simplicity,
for that reason they were chosen among the Gods.
Before such prodigy of the sky, intrigues began to prepare, men with
the veins full envies began to seed in the hearts of the
macehuales hatred
and need of rebellion and so they decided to put an
end to Xelhua and its brothers; but, such facts did not remain
hidden to the eyes of the Gods and decided to protect their
favorite children ending the men of the region, who were
incapable to understand the decisions of the guardians of
the night.
It was on the verge of concluding another cycle of 52 years
and Xelhua and his brothers prepared themselves to carry out
ceremony of the new fire, the celebrations of the ill-fated
days began and the five brothers kept penance, elevated their
rites and their chants in honor of Nepalmohuani "The Giver
of life” when arriving at the fifth day, the fatigue of the penance
overcame them and they had a revealing dream in which the Gods ordered to them
to go to mountain of Tlaloc, where they would take
their offerings, they also dreamed that a terrible deluge would
fall and end the insolence of the macehuales.
Thus, to the dawn, the chant of the cenzontle accompanied
them by the paths, embellishing the religious songs that they
offered to their Gods. The clouds of the sky quickly began
to congregate, in such a way that when the brothers displayed
their offering inside the mountain of Tlaloc, enormous poisonous
serpents beganto fall from the sky killing everything
in the surroundings in exchange for trying to attempt against
the life of its favorite children.
When the deluge finished, a ray of light announced
Xelhua and its brothers that all threat had been cleaned by
the power of the Gods, and then they were ordered to announce
the greatness and the power of their divine protectors.
Because the prestige of Xelhua had flown beyond the borders
of Anahuac,
everywhere he went people acclaimed him and followed him, and
thus he arrived near the valley of Cuetlaxcoapan and
when he saw Zapotecas hill it
resembled him the mountain of Tlaloc and telling its
feat to its subjects, he wanted to recreate the countryside
with a great mountain to honor the
memory of Tlaloc, so he ordered to tlalmanalcas the
elaboration of an infinity amount of adobes to give form
to the mountain of Tlaloc, but when the Gods felt their work
was threatened by this mountain, they decided to punish the
vanity of Xelhua to show their displeasure; the worried tlalmanalcas,
that did not have the opportunity to escape, (because they
remained stunned with the roar of the devastating ray) were
hit by an enormous rock in toad form, frustrating the work
and the dreams of Xelhua.
From then, in the Great one Tollan Cholollan exists the Tlachihualtepetl
or “Handmade hill“ that became a sign
of the foundation of Cholula, by the mythical Xelhua, who fulfilling
the charge of the Gods, founded the towns of: Acatepec, Chalchihuapan, Atlixco, Cuauhquechollan, Itzocan, Ayotlan, Epatlan Teopantlan, Ixcaquixtlan, Tehuacán, Coxcatlan , Teotitlan,
etc.
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| The
Hill of Zapotecas |
There are many tales about the famous hill of Zapotecas, this
is one of them, very popular in the region:
There is a hill near Cholula, near to Zacatepec, which people call The
Zapotecas Hill, all the towns of the region tell that there are pacts with the
devil made there, in exchange for money. Even, when somebody manifests that he
does not have money others answer to him:
- Go to the Zapotecas
The legend counts that a man walked worried because he had
to do a celebration in his town and he was a month short
and he did not have enough money in order to carry out his
commitment. So, he decided to ask for a loan between his
well-known and “compadres”, but the cropping season
had not gone well, so everyone denied him the aid, until his
compadre said to him that he also needed money, so they both
decided to go to Zapotecas hill to acquire some money.
Sad and worried, he thought about the expenses that he was
going to make as a commitment, to buy flowers, to
contract bands, rockets and toritos, drinks for
the assistants or refreshments, beer or pulque and mass,
for it he would have to sacrifice many hens, turkeys, some
pigs and it without money and the economic crisis, no one could
help him.
The sleep had gone away of his eyes, in the nights he could
only lay in bed thinking about solving his problem. It already
passed one week since his compadre had suggested to him to
go to the hill of zapotecas, but he had not seen him, maybe
he went away for work.
The days passed without mercy for the poor friend, until
after thinking and consulting it with the pillow, the only
alternative was to go to request money to the hill of the zapotecas,
he would still think that same night how to acquire the money
for whatever means necessary.
That day he tried not to think about the subject, because
fear would overcome him and stop him from making his journey,
so he tried to distract himself thinking about the farm, crops,
and less about his problem. He left at night, approximately
at eleven at night, He took his jacket and left his house without
giving any explanations to his family, on his way he could
hear the bark of the dogs from a distant spot, the wind blew
cooling the sweat that appeared of his face, he then began
to go up the hill, each step that he gave made him harder to
breath and made his heart go faster. He stopped and watched
his town at distance, the few lights that were still kept on,
there were no stars and when he was on the verge of arriving
at the top, he thought about returning, but he said:
- I’m already on the other side.
And right when he was going to continue walking, he heard a
voice that said to him:
- Your "compadre" told me that you were
looking for me? it is not necessary that you explain me your
problem, as I already know what it is, so I am going to help
to you; only that you must think of who is the soul of the
member of your family that you are going to give me. I am
going to give you some seconds to think about it; I will
return to sign the pact with blood.
The dark shade which appeared to be a farm
manager with his coat and hat, disappeared into the trees and
the man was left there not with one problem, but with two and
before he could think about answer, he started hearing very
sad complaints. He thought it could be, someone in distress,
but when looking for between the trees, he discovered an enormous
house, where the complaints were coming from.
He entered by the inner door and great was his surprise when
he saw many man hanged by the hands, and their feet tied, which
appeared to be whipped cruelly by someone. Many of the men
no longer moved, but between all of them he recognized his
compadre and he ran towards him and before he could speak to
him, his compadre said to him with a tired and sad voice.
- "Compadrito" what are you doing here? Get the hell out
of here, before that thing returns, save yourself, get out
of here and do not turn around your face, what are you waiting
for?, I am already screwed up…
Without a second thought the man ran from the imaginary property,
it gave him pity to listen to the complaints that he heard,
each one requesting aid, but still he needed to get out of
there. He cursed the stones in the way that did not let him
escape as fast as he wanted, the branches of the trees also
tried to stop him and his feet moved with the speed of his
breathing, of his heart beats, still thinking about the words
of his compadre. He arrived at his town at one in the morning,
but only the barks of the dogs accompanied him by the solitary
streets. When he got to his house, he went straight to bed,
his wife only turned around to continue sleeping and our friend
never knew, how and when he fell asleep. When dawn came, he
started to think about the festivity commitment, and the solution
came easy to him.
- I am going to sell
two cows and with that I am going to make a simple celebration,
the important thing is to fulfill the veneration of the "Santo
Patrón".
Not yet he had to think about the solution, when he heard a
shout that said: I buy! Donkeys, cows, yearling calves!
Miraculously the solution arrived, he went
out running and he made business with these people. At the
same moment he heard in the church that they were giving double
bell rings. He then fixed the sale of the animals, they paid
good price to him and he made his way to the church to begin
with the preparations for the celebration.
He then saw a people group who crowded themselves next to
a cart and said to him:
- look! someone brought
your "compadre", he was found dead, above of the hill of
the Zapotecas…
When he walked through the people, he could see his compadre,
tied from hands and feet, bleeding, but the peculiar thing
is that he was wearing our friend ’s jacket.
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| A
Devil in the Church |
Cholula, the city of the 365 churches, where Cortes carried out
the Slaughter, Cholula, where the great pyramid is located (the
biggest in the world), the cosmopolitan city, the one of calpullis or
districts, where the cult is carried out to the Virgen de
los Remedios, where there are daily celebrations in anyone
of its churches with rockets, music and processions.
That flood of legends that does not fit in a book and that
would have astonished the Sultan of the Thousand and one Nights;
it is indeed of Cholula this history of fantasy and mystery
that I come to relate.
Our ancestors told, that the first chapel to be built in
Cholula was de one of the district of San Miguelito, where
Maria Felix, and Pedro Armendariz posed for the remembrance
pictures of the movie “La Enamorada”.
They narrate that in this small church of the district of San Miguelito,
this church that covers its facade with red brick of the region;
this one has in its interior, as it is logical to suppose,
the image of prince San Miguel, the head of the celestial cut,
he who submitted the demon and that appears in the old little
stamps, all-powerful, with the flaming sword in its right hand
and the balance of justice in the other, while the bad
one twists in the flames of hell and requests mercy before
the attack of the powerful one Archangel.
All our grandparents
and some of our parents, still knew the old image of San
Miguel, which they tell that it had a devil moored with
a chain to a column. Because of the power of San Miguel,
many believers asked for his protection before the dangers,
to ask for health, for work, for money or for love, but the
story tells that much people, that were not favored by the
celestial prince, once hopeless, began to take their pleas
to the devil when they considered that their requests had
been denied by the powerful archangel.
Thus that temptation made them lean towards giving a glance
at Lucifer,
which as a rare coincidence was located in the main altar of
the church along with its implacable pattern.
All of a sudden, people of doubtful moral and of bad reputation
began to visit the church, until one day the priest of the church, stranged by this thought
to himself about the possibility that, the Archangel with his divine power, had
made the miracle to attract this people to the church, until one day the sacristan
listened to one of those suspicious faithfuls whom the following said:
- Look Satan, you that are aside of San Miguelito, please
make that my neighbor dies, he is already very old and he
is just busting me by making me pay his money, please, do
this favor to me and I offer in return the soul of my compadrito.
This was the first request that the sacristan could listen
and by curiosity when he saw arrive one of those personages
arriving, stopped and listened that their requests were not
for San Miguelito, but for the devil, and it’s
fame of reliable was run quickly. Even people of “good” went
to ask for favors, not to San Miguelito, but to the
devil, for granting revenges, money, loves, and others strange
whims.
The most bizarre thing that happened, is that sometimes
the mentioned devil appeared loose of the column and when this
happened in the church, in the town, something bad happened,
some accident, some tragedy, some murder or something that
the town associated with the times that the devil appeared
loose of the column, until the priest or the sacristan saw
this and they returned to tie the devil to the column, in order
for this tragedies to stop.
One good day, the sacristan told the priest what he observed
and heard, the incredulous priest listened to the requests
of the unfaithful ones that instead of requesting to the Divine
Archangel, requested the devil for favors. So for that reason
the priest decided to retire of the altar the image of the
devil.
Much people were stranged by the fact that their patron was
not on the altar anymore, and the mystery makes one suppose
that it is locked up well, where nobody can render cult to
him, many very devout women say that the devil was burned so
that nothing bad happens in the colonial Cholula, but the whereabouts
of the so mysterious figure, remains unknown nowadays.
In San Pedro Cholula, there are two churches with the name of
San Miguel, San Miguel in the district of Tianguisnahuatl and San
Miguelito in the district of the same name, the district
of San Miguelito.
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