Mexican Pageants

My show snack, an empanada dulce

We have all been to school pageants that were a little unbearable.  We go to see our own kids or to see our friends’ kids, and the rest is a torture of off-key singing, disorganized choreography, and forgotten recitations.  The audience is rather bored except for a few cheering parents, who naturally change as each grade performs and leaves the stage.

This is entirely untrue in Mexico, or at least in Oaxaca this weekend.  I stumbled upon an end of year pageant near the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de La Soledad (Our Lady of Loneliness). Each group of children (from around 5 to 15) performed traditional dances from throughout the Oaxaca region.  It was really impressive. And remarkable in how much fun everyone was having.

Here is how these two American pageants are widely divergent from each other.

In Mexico, the costumes are better.

In Mexico, the acts fit the developmental stages of the children. Ever been to a dance recital where the 3 and 4 year olds are given such difficult choreography that once on stage, even after months of practicing, can only stand there with their fingers in their nose? Not in Mexico. These little ones twirled around like hummingbirds and did it perfectly because that is what kids do perfectly everywhere in the world. The more graceful and complicated dances were left to the older students.

In Mexico, the kids do it all on their own. At school pageants or recitals in the States, teachers are in front of the stage lip-syncing the words or directing students where to go when they have forgotten.  And that is perceived as kind, because we do not want to see our kids fail.  But in Mexico, I did not see one teacher down in front coaching students through the dances or stage directions.  And some of the kids messed up. And they got through it. And everyone was proud because they were children rather than perfect performers.  

In Mexico, they serve mezcal to the audience adults. Yes, the teachers serve the parents and their friends (and tourists in the stands) alcohol.  Be it in tiny amounts, but still. Mezcal is the Oaxacan alcohol of economy and trade, and so it is also part of *distilling (yes) local culture in this collegial event.

In Mexico, between acts, they throw bread, fruit, and candy into the audience. And they do this so often that if you are scheming enough you can go home with enough food to serve your family a a good breakfast.

*to take the most important parts of something and put them in a different and usually improved form, according to Merriam-Webster :)