Temporada Navideña, Oaxaca 2014

[bixaorellana]

Three Kings day is almost here, but there's enough time left to squeeze in a Christmas season thread.

Here is the scene in early December, when a Mexican native plant really comes into its own ~





The little stores around the neighborhood are stocked with piñatas ~





Winter wonderland in my patio ~

Bah, humdog!

Moving forward a week -- a trip to the Abastos market ~

[bixaorellana]

That's a baby chihuahua in the basket next to baby Jesus ~





Everything you could possibly need to create an authentic Bethlehem scene ~

[bixaorellana]

Continuing the bird theme ~

These are a hoot. They're images stuffed with newspaper which will be burned at midnight on New Year's Eve. Apparently every one of these old creatures was not nice at all when alive. There was a very merry woman selling them. I asked her who wrote the stories & she said, "A genius!"

For instance, the cop on the left says that he was a real lowlife. He drove all over town picking out women he liked in order to force them into his patrol car. It was such difficult work that his "rifle" (ahem) got crooked. Now this old guy without a rifle wishes us a happy Christmas and a prosperous new year.

[bixaorellana]

Of course the regular market is going on along with all the Christmas items ~





Gifts for every taste!


Ocote -- fatty pine for starting fires ~


Salted, dried, smoked ~










~ Coming up: more random scenes appropriate to the season ~

[bixaorellana]

Moving on now to December 25 & a wonderful day at the Charlie's ~





As always, the hospitality, company, & meal were wonderful. Charlie even created a yule log ~

It was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed checking out their garden. They moved to this house in August 2006, to a neglected yard with the further insult of having it dug up twice for a cistern. Credit here goes to Mr. Charlie, who has made it all thrive.

This cactus was a 1' present from a friend, just two or three years ago ~

[bjd]

One wonders how hippos and pigs make it into a nativity scene.

Speaking of wondering, in your patio, how do your little flower pots stuck horizontally on the wall work? Doesn't the soil fall out?

[mossie]

Very very colourful as always. Bah hum dog says it all really. You really show us a whole brighter country, especially considering the gloomy conditions we face here at this time.

[Deleted]

Going back to the very first photo, I read the other day that the poinsettia is the most commercialised flower in the world, which rather surprised me. I'm not even sure if what you photographed was one of the versions, but it seems likely. (As for being surprised, it is because I almost never see any poinsettias in France, but I have never forgotten how omnipresent they were at Christmas in the United States.)

All of the pig and chicken imagery is delightful, but I suppose that those are fertility symbols.

[htmb]

Beautiful pictures, Bixa. I certainly love all the bright colors.

[bixaorellana]

Posted by bjd
One wonders how hippos and pigs make it into a nativity scene.
Oh, really, Bjd ~ everyone knows that people and animals from the southern part of Africa were all over Bethlehem back in the old days. Of course they were far outnumbered by Mexicans making tortillas & cooking pork, a big favorite of the local population back then.

Speaking of wondering, in your patio, how do your little flower pots stuck horizontally on the wall work? Doesn't the soil fall out?
To answer the last question first: yes and no. I couldn't find anything appropriate, i.e., sufficiently shallow, for the staghorn fern, so I stuffed them firmly into those regular plastic pots. One seems to be happy enough, but one fell out the moment the soil dried. They're hung onto the wall from the holes in the bottom of the pots.

Posted by mossie
Very very colourful as always. Bah hum dog says it all really. You really show us a whole brighter country, especially considering the gloomy conditions we face here at this time.
Thank you, Mossie. I tend towards the bah attitude toward Christmas, but am also a sucker for lights, glitter, streamers, etc.

Posted by kerouac2
Going back to the very first photo, I read the other day that the poinsettia is the most commercialised flower in the world, which rather surprised me. I'm not even sure if what you photographed was one of the versions, but it seems likely. (As for being surprised, it is because I almost never see any poinsettias in France, but I have never forgotten how omnipresent they were at Christmas in the United States.)
Hmmm, maybe so. They're essentially wild plants & I found out that the way to get those short, stocky flowering examples is by cutting & rooting the growing tips. This would make it relatively easy for growers to turn out zillions of them in time for Christmas, their natural flowering time. They're so associated with Christmas here that the common name for them is "nochebuena", i.e., good night aka Christmas eve.

All of the pig and chicken imagery is delightful, but I suppose that those are fertility symbols.
Maybe, although my guess would be more that they represent food for feasting. Note the cooking heads right after the mommy and baby pigs. Many of those figurines for populating the Bethlehem scene come from very old molds and also reflect what a rural country this still is.

Posted by htmb
Beautiful pictures, Bixa. I certainly love all the bright colors.
Thank you, Htmb. This part of the year is the dry, sunny season, so automatically a brighter time of year to enhance all that Christmas color.

[lagatta]

Porca Madonna! (Sorry). The BVM is about to clobber me.

I've never bought poinsettas (nor did family) but they are very pretty.

[bixaorellana]

LOL, LaGatta ..... or should I say ridere forte? Also, tsk tsk.

Poinsettias are pretty and there are so many colors besides the well-known red. However, they grow into ungainly trees here that are impossible to prune effectively plus, if cut down, will come back from the dead repeatedly.

Moving on now to December 26 and a party at the beautiful home of friends in Huayapam.
Their garden is on different levels, as befits its setting in the hills.
It is situated so that the outside world doesn't seem to exist.

This is jazmín de Huayapam, which I believe is Philadelphus mexicanus, a type of mock orange.
The scent is clean, strong, and sweet without being cloying.
According to my hostess, bundles of it were flown to England for the wedding of Elizabeth II.

Merely the tip of the iceberg, nay, glacier of desserts served. It was impossible to sample all of them, but I have to say that I never dreamed strudel could be so delicious.


A little guest ~

[bixaorellana]

The past few days ~

Look: bona fide singing nuns!




The gift of glorious weather ~




Solandra grandiflora -- entheology.com/plants/solandra-grandiflora-chalice-vine/

Sunday I came across the Chihuahua club in front of Sto. Domingo.
Some of the pups were channeling the three kings ~

The kings check out my queenly Darla ~



Well, tomorrow is Epiphany & the end of the Christmas season. I'll be on the lookout for anything to add here that hasn't already been done.

[bixaorellana]

So, nothing three-kingish to add, only that the Christmas season is officially over now, which to my mind signals the true beginning of the new year. Here are a few more pics to wrap up the thread ~

Ending as it began, with poinsettia. These are growing over a tall wall across the street from my house ~


Adios to all this ~


Gratuitous dog pic. Well, not entirely, as they were waiting for me to take some photos for this thread ~


Surely the new year is a time to look for signs and portents, right?
I say that angel wings and dragons in the sky are a harbinger of a wonderful time ahead ~

Of course this day must end with king cake ~

First slice!


Coming out of there?


That's all, folks!

[bjd]

Those cakes are called "galettes des rois" in France. There are various kinds depending on the region -- often a flaky pastry with frangipane (almond) cream inside. But here in the southwest, there are some called galettes de Limoux (which is near Carcassonne) that are made with yeast-risen dough and have candied fruit in them and a bit of sugar on top. But they look a lot less sweet than what you picture. They all have a "fève" inside -- they used to be porcelain, but now are often plastic.

Pics here: www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1215&bih=904&q=galette+des+rois&oq=galette&gs_l=img.1.1.0l10.1417.2395.0.4493.7.6.0.1.1.0.147.569.5j1.6.0.msedr...0...1ac.1.60.img..0.7.568.rbbagIlpmB4

[bixaorellana]

So interesting, Bjd! They also sound & look delicious. King cakes are a big deal in New Orleans, where Epiphany/Twelfth Night is the kick-off to the carnival season. I see online that bakers there are branching out to even include cheesecake in the king cake form. I remember them as that dreary "Danish" too often featured in commercial bakeries in the US. You know -- that stuff you have to scrape off your hard palate in order to swallow.

The rosca de reyes here are pan de yema -- "yolk bread", which more often than not is like a dry-as-dust challah or croissant. The bread itself is not all that sweet, though. The topping in the picture is the same as the topping on conchas, a ubiquitous bakery "treat" that could disappear forever as far as I'm concerned. It's sugar, butter, & flour mixed together & patted on the pastry. It tastes like sugar, butter (or oleo), & flour mixed together.

In New Orleans, the king cakes are either iced with gold, green, & purple icing (the colors of Mardi Gras), or are sprinkled with sugar tinted those colors.

This is embarrassing, but until I saw a Spanish explanation of the rosca de reyes tradition the other day, it never once occurred to me that the baby was supposed to represent the baby Jesus.

The babies here all seem to be like the ones in my photo.(My cake had two!) But the ones in the US are the pink rubber ones, like the ones that used to be sold in Woolworth's when I was a kid.
You can shovel up dirt from almost any back yard in New Orleans & find pieces of the old bisque ones.

[cheerypeabrain]

I have really enjoyed this glorious, colourful thread Bixa...splendid.


Your puppy-pic is soooo sweet

[Deleted]

I finally managed to come back here and appreciate the photos at a more leisurely pace. The Charlies' garden and your other friends garden are really lovely. I would love to not have to pay for limes, even if limes have become very cheap here and are generally imported from Mexico. Of course under those blue skies and with appropriately warm températures, it seems as though it would be so easy to grow just about anything.

I am lucky that pastry does not appeal to me since there is such a glut of it here. But photos of other people's pastry is always interesting to see. I must say that I got the porcelain prize at the galette des rois at my mother's nursing home. It was a relief to the nursing home staff because they are always afraid that one of the old people is going to choke to death.

[DianeMP]

Oh my, my, my! Such a wonderland of hyper-color and elaboration! Similar to India, only I would actually understand a few words. All of the homemade plaster critters are so cute, and the primitive pigs-in-a-pot ones are hilarious. And the newspaper-stuffed bad people - lol! I have to come back and look again, it's all too wonderful to take in the first time. In the meantime, bixa, could you please send me one of those fishnet corset-type numbers, COD?

[bixaorellana]

Belated thank-yous for all the nice comments.

Of course I bask in compliments to my doggies, Cheery!

Kerouac, I'm relieved you survived the cake baby. Do you have a picture of it?

Diane, the fishnet creation is wending your way, as I know you'll wear it well.

This is probably beating a dead horse, but this picture was posted on fb tonight from New Orleans, where it's still king cake season. It's a classic of its kind & horrifies me as much as ever. I just know Bjd will love this.

[Deleted]

Not enough sugar!

[htmb]

Bjd may love it, but I think it's totally gross.
I didn't notice the baby until I took a second look at the picture.

[bixaorellana]

Ha! I didn't notice it until you mentioned it. Makes the whole thing even creepier -- The Ghost of Diabetes Future.

[DianeMP]

Now, what exactly do you do with a tube of colored sugar?
Sugar...my favorite food group.

[Pinky]

Beautiful! Beautiful! I loved the video of alice and i in cuilapam, a wonderful presentation of the photos! p.s. what is the soundtrack?

big kisses, pinky

[pinky]

*and me, i mean