Can you turn the light on?
Hey guys.
It’s about 10:30 at night right now and tonight is really special and important
in San Miguel de Allende.
It’s Holy Week and traditions that have been going on for centuries
are beginning right now.
I’m walking along the street here where the events will take place tomorrow
and there’s lots of people out in the street.
Everyone is decorating with all sorts of different materials: paper flowers, balloons,
painting in the streets,
all sorts of beautiful, beautiful things.
I just met a wonderful man named Antonio and it’s so exciting that now I can speak
enough Spanish to have a conversation with someone
and, if I didn’t understand, he was very patient in re-explaining it.
So I was asking him a ton of questions about what’s happening here.
They’re going to fill these streets and a procession is going to start very shortly
in a town 12 kilometres away called Atotonilco.
And they are carrying a symbol of Christ through the streets and people are decorating
in front of their homes with different materials
and his family was there.
He pointed out his different family members: his nieces and nephews
who are all helping him to create a symbol of Christ on the street in front of his home.
He also showed me some of the traditional plants in the back of his truck
that he’s gone and purchased.
And I guess the three that are used most widely, and have been for a very long time,
in Spanish are called manzanilla, hinojo, and mastranto.
And they are important and special for their aroma and he let me smell them.
And tomorrow they’ll be thrown along the procession route to give everything
this really pungent, beautiful smell.
So that was really interesting to learn about.
And I asked him where is the procession going and there’s a church very close by here
and I said, ‘Are they going to the church?’
And I used the word ‘iglesia’ which means church, I thought.
And he corrected me and said, ‘No, it’s the templo.’
And he explained to me that an iglesia is a structure.
It’s a building and that the church is people.
And he really beautifully explained how this is about people.
It’s not about a building and how the church is people and that’s who this represents.
So I feel a little choked up.
I’m really moved.
When you’re travelling you meet a lot of people and I really connected with Antonio
and I won’t forget him.
And I’m sure I won’t forget this event either.
It’s after midnight now.
We’ve been walking around for hours looking at all of the preparations.
I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere in the world and this isn’t even it.
So I cannot imagine what’s to come tomorrow.
We’re going to bed now to get some sleep and we’ll be back here when the sun’s up.
Good morning.
It was a very short night.
All throughout the streets you can see the plants that Antonio showed me last night
and you can smell it as you’re walking through the streets.
It’s incredible.
Buenos días, Antonio.
¡Hola!
¡No se fueron dormir!
We just spoke with Antonio again and what his family has done is unbelievable
and when I said how beautiful it was he just said, ‘My family.’
And the skill, time, and care that has gone on to the preparation of the streets here is unbelievable.
People have obviously been up all night doing this.
The procession has just gone by.
We’re following behind it now.
There’s tons of firecrackers going off as the procession continues towards the church.
As soon as the procession passed by, people were already cleaning up the streets.
There are trucks out here collecting everything that needs to be picked up
so that they can get the streets open for cars again.
Extremely efficient.
Unbelievable how much preparation was put into this all through the night
and then how quickly people are preparing the streets to be used again now.
It’s just after 8:30 in the morning now.
The procession has ended outside of the church.
There’s now an open air mass that takes place.
People are having coffee and eating breakfast from the sellers who are outside.
I feel so privileged to have been here in San Miguel de Allende
when this tradition was taking place.
And I’m just really grateful to have been here to see it.