It was like any sunny Sunday in the zocalo of Oaxaca city. Bands played. Dancers in indigenous costumes stomped, tapped and whirled through dances from the seven regions that make up Oaxaca state. Families relaxed and chatted, and teenagers eyed each other as they spooned up ice creams in such exotic flavors as mamey, tuna (cactus fruit) and leche quemada (burnt milk).
But this wasn't Oaxaca. It was Los Angeles. And it wasn't a zocalo but the parking lot of St. Cecilia Catholic Church on south Normandie Avenue.
And it wasn't just any Sunday gathering, but one of the most significant events of the year, a fiesta honoring Oaxaca's patron saint, La Virgen de la Soledad (The Virgin of Solitude).
It started with Mass, celebrated with dancers and band music. Then came a procession to the parking lot led by marmoteros--men who transport the enormous fabric balloons called marmotas that are essential to fiestas in Oaxaca.
Priests, dancers and the faithful followed, bringing a large portrait of the Virgin, which they placed in a white tulle frame.
Then the dancing began, continuing for hours as folkloric groups and bands took their turns.
A Mixe dance started somberly, then erupted into action. In La Flor de Pina from Tuxtepec, girls danced with pineapples balanced on their shoulders.
Interludes of saucy banter punctuated another sequence, provoking laughter from the audience, and a boy and girl flirtatiously charged at each other as if they were a bull and bullfighter.
Dancers swayed to the nostalgic "Cancion Mizteca," a song of longing for the homeland, and boys in tall headdresses performed the Zapotec feather dance as if they were energetic young warriors from centuries past.
Of course there was food, prepared with enthusiasm because the purpose was to support the dance groups and bands.
If restaurants were involved, as was the case with Guelaguetza in Palms, they were identified only by the name of the group they wanted to promote. The eating began long before the ceremonial procession arrived.
Women patted out masa to form memelas and bean-stuffed huaraches. Or they flattened the masa into tortillas by hand or with a wooden press.
Fried quesadillas with such fillings as mushrooms and papas con chorizo (potatoes with chorizo) were slathered with black beans, then topped with lettuce, cheese and Mexican crema.
Tortillas con relleno (above) were lined with black beans to form the base for a layer of nopales, a freshly grilled black Oaxacan chorizo, lettuce, cheese and salsas.
Tlayudas (right), large masa rounds topped with beans, meat, cheese and other savory ingredients, were so large they had to be folded in half to fit on a plate.
There were tacos, tortas filled with Oaxacan cecina, tamales verdes (with green sauce), tamales with mole, hamburguesas and drinks such as ponche, champurrado and brightly colored aguas frescas.
Soledad Lopez of Guelaguetza (right) served plates of barbacoa de chivo (goat), barbacoa tacos and chicken taquitos smothered with lettuce, cheese and avocado salsa.
And she brought the prized fruit tejocotes, which look like tiny yellow apples (manzanas) and so are also know as manzanitas or manzanillas. These are essential for the holiday drink ponche, but she had cooked them in cinnamon-flavored syrup (they're in the pink bowl below).
A pile of handpainted, bowl-shaped jicaras at the front of her stand were containers for tejate, a frothy prehispanic drink. Making it is dauntingly laborious, and a mixer or food processor can't do the job. Lopez stirred and swirled the mixture, first with her arm, then with her fingers, until it began to bubble and foam.
The ingredients included mamey seeds, cacao, cacao flowers, peanuts, almonds and dried corn boiled with cenizas (ashes) to make it easy to peel. Corn for masa is cooked with cal (lime), but this would taint the drink with a chemical taste, Lopez said.
Diluted with water, the ground mixture was not sweetened, but servers spooned a little sugar syrup into each jicara as they filled it. The nutty flavor was concentrated in tiny granules called florecitas that floated on top.
Typical Oaxacan ingredients were on sale too. There were fresh chiles de agua, smoked dried Mixe chiles, the string cheese called quesillo, chapulines (grasshoppers), tasajo (dried meat) and breads such as pan de yema and pan amarillo brought from Oaxaca.
A stand of religious goods offered framed portraits of the jeweled, black-robed Virgen de la Soledad, whose basilica is one of the most important sites in Oaxaca city.
The music drifted from the church into the neighborhood, and families sat outside to eat, drink and listen until the fiesta ended as light faded.
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