CELEBRATION IN NAOLINCO

CELEBRATION IN NAOLINCO

The celebration in Naolinco, a town of Totonac origin, has gained singular renown and starts from the patronal feast in honor of San Mateo Apóstol, on September 21, when the pilatos appear, the traditional dance, and the blacks, comparsa fight battles with Lord Santiago and his army. It is from that date when the dances announce the beginning of Todos Santos, time in which agricultural activities are intensified, announcing the harvest of various products such as corn, squash, beans, flower of the dead or cempoalxócilt. Productive and commercial work increases.

The Naolinqueños, hurrying in the intricate streets, still adorned with small altars in honor of San Mateo. Little by little people are seen building metal structures to coat them with paper and paste, giving shape to skulls made with great skill and dexterity, which acquire artistic trappings of paper, glitter and any amount of paraphernalia.

The domestic trades are modified: women, day by day, increase the pace of their work, either in the preparation of the mole and the preparation of sweets and jamoncillos, wines with local fruits, chopping Chinese paper, making flowers for the crowns, wearing skulls, or by conditioning the room where they will place the altar and the offering, as well as cleaning and painting their homes. Same picture occurs in shops, in workshops cobblers or saddlers, in cultural and educational centers, in the municipal Palace, the hospital and the pantheon.

The schools of all the educational levels include in their extracurricular activities the construction of altars, skulls and catrinas to recreate the tradition and the cult for that one.

When the last days of October are approaching, the hustle and bustle grows. A tianguis of producers of flower of cempoalxócilt, moco of turkey and tepejilote is improvised; They arrive at Naolinco to fill the streets with a large quantity of products coming from communities of the municipality such as San Pablo Coapa, Las Haldas, Tepetates, Espinal, or San Miguel Aguasuelos. In this way, the naolinqueños market the fruits and flowers to be placed in the offering. In this impromptu plaza candles, candles, incense, chopped paper, sweets, breads, and all the essential items for the altar arrangement are obtained.

The pantheon is another important reference point in this festivity: it will be the starting point to start with the praised and the sung. In this place there is great bustle during the arrangement of crypts and tambas; Dozens of men perform cleaning tasks, the young men touch up the paint and change the broken glass.

Preparations

The families prepare themselves two weeks in advance by making the flowers, cutting the paper of china and gathering the ingredients for the dishes of the offering, without forgetting the preparation of the wines of grape, pineapple, tamarind and blackberry that can not miss in the offering.

The night falls and the sweet atmosphere with the smell of bread and the majesty of the crypts gives a very special feeling: of mysticism and 

religiosity, where the noise of persistent and pleasant work is mixed with the affection and affection of old men, eager women and loquacious kids

Altars of Todos Santos or Altars of Life, the altars naolinqueños are deeply Christian. They are made in the form of bleachers to place the most revered images, such as those of Jesus Christ, the Christian Cross, the Virgin of Carmen and the photo of the deceased family members at the top. In the construction of these altars dedicated to life, the whole family participates with assigned tasks, achieving in this way that each of those who intervene give the best of himself.

They are implemented for altars: large tables, screens, shelves and steps are placed with great care; they are installed in the room or in the best location of the house, and are distributed from the floor to the ceiling, respecting that they preserve the ascending levels that lead to a celestial vault richly ornamented with multicolored paper finally chopped. These levels allow the union between the earthly and the divine, of the events produced in each of the two planes: the earth and the sky, the altar becoming the point of union between a celestial constellation and the earth as a shelter for the deceased. Once installed the structures that provide support is placed the foliage of vats and tepejilote branches, which will accommodate the flower carefully arranged and strung one by one, forming flowery chains, which in capricious silhouettes frame the arches and backs. The table and the other levels are covered by embroidered tablecloths, on which there are images of saints and photographs of deceased relatives.

The Singing On the first of November, around eight o'clock in the evening, the "cantada" starts, which consists of visiting the houses where the altars have been made and singing the songs (praises and praises), creations of the inhabitants of Naolinco, which are dedicated to saints, martyrs and people related to religion. The Singing It begins when the groups go to the cemetery to sing in front of the grave of a relative the first "sung" of the night, then the

participants move from house to house, respectfully singing them. As a token of appreciation, the owners of the houses offer a glass of fruit wine and dishes prepared for the occasion. Children, young people and adults cross the streets alternating the visit to the different houses. It is a coming and going that concludes in the early hours of the morning, since it is necessary to rest to continue the next day with the visit to the cemetery.

Visit to the cemetery

In life is loved and in death is remembered and on November 2 the settlers of Naolinco are heading towards the cemetery carrying crowns and flowers (natural and artificial), candles and candles that place on graves, which have previously been cleaned. Whole families in which there are plenty of children parade through the main door on the way to the grave of their loved ones. On the right, entering the cemetery are tombs and mausoleums more than a century ago, in which a generous hand deposits a flower in homage to that anonymous person who lived and contributed to the development in Naolinco. Small mausoleums  with beautifully carved angels, in the center of tiny open chapels, are part of this legacy.

In the newer part of the cemetery, some of the tombs are made in such a way that they look like a small room. In some cases they represent a small room with a table beautifully covered with crocheted tablecloths, in the center hangs a cross and at its feet the photo of the deceased, in some husbands. Filled with flowers of different colors, the "room" invites to stop to observe every detail. The objective of the relatives is to create in this small space a feeling of homelike style, that those people possibly had in life. Only the back wall is built entirely of brick and cement, the sides and the front have large windows, making it easy to see every detail created with love. In another "room" dedicated to an athlete, his shirt remains of the baseball team in which he played. The "housing" blocks painted in pastels and strong colors, are full of flowers of different colors, creating a happy and nostalgic set at the same time. There is no shortage of students from the educational and cultural centers, turned into beautiful pairs of catrines, dressed in the style of the 19th century, that glide ethereally through the cemetery. Both children and adults look for the moment to take a picture with them, which they will surely keep, as a reminder of this day in which life and death are lived almost as one reality.