December 12, 2018
December 12
As promised, for this entry, rather than bore you with pictures of the long long drive down to Palenque, we are bringing you a special event only held in Mexico.
According to legend, on this date in the year 1531, the Virgin Mary, also referred to as Our Lady of Guadalupe, appeared to Juan Diego in Mexico City. To honour this event, Dec 12 is a national holiday in Mexico, but in the weeks leading up to this day, all over the country, young people make a pilgrimage by bike, wearing either a picture of Mary, or carrying a statue of her on their backs.
Since we started cycling here, we have seen groups riding by, mostly young men it seems. At first we just saw flags attached to their bikes, but here in Campeche, as the 12th has drawn nearer, so have the displays grown bigger. Now, we see cyclists carrying statues on their backs that are life sized! We are assuming they are made of a light material, but even so, it looks quite cumbersome!
We are not too sure what goes on on this day, but it should be very interesting! For the moment, though, here are many of the scenes we have been witness to!
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PS it was a very long day, driving here to Palenque, but we made it! Tomorrow we hit the ruins, but next time? We'll take the bus! Driving was crazy loco!
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