Dear Friends,
Easter in Lajas is intense to say the least, and amplified by the fact
that midday on Wednesday the road is closed so that no vehicles can travel on the Holy days of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This gives you the direct impression that you are kind've trapped. The fiesta kicks off on Wednesday evening with what is called "the coming out of the bull". Barry, Candy and myself braved the elements of a mild summer's evening and made our way down to the church with some Tepehuan neighbors. It was quite dark and a bunch of people were sitting around inside the church enclosure. The village leaders were all sitting under a tree in the middle of the yard smoking. About an hour later, the bull shows up along with a bunch of other older men who accompany him over the next few days. Eventually everyone goes inside the church, and we tagged along as well. It is very dark inside apart from a few candles burning somewhere near the front. The doors are shut and the candles extinguished, and blackness reigns. All of a sudden everyone is stamping their feet and you feel like you're trapped in the middle of a stampede. Somewhere in the midst of all this, the sound of a brass horn begins to screech. We can only imagine this is the bull. A line of men begin making their way to the door, in their midst the bull is bellowing away on the horn. A slight technical hitch occurred when the very old, but very thick church door wouldn't open. It seemed an eternity before they could get it to open. For a moment I entertained the idea of us all being trapped inside the church for the night. That could've been interesting especially with the near presence of the bull. Graciously the door did open and we all filed out in relief. We headed back to the house while the bull and his companions settled into a night of drinking and blowing his horn.
Thursday is a quiet day until around 1:00 P.M. when the party begins
down in the village centre. Twelve young men, who were chosen the year
before, wear tall crowns made of wild turkey feathers. They are called sergeants and carry brand new machetes. Their task is to make sure all
boys under the age of 14 (I'm guessing) are at the fiesta and are at the right place during the fiesta. The leaders and respected village men sit on long logs in the middle of the fiesta and the rest of the village sit around under trees and wherever they can. Women are preparing food consisting of: atole (a thick liquid made of flour, water, and sugar cane), fish soup (very salty and full of all the parts of a fish except the ones we're used to eating), and finally, beans. This food is served by young men and they are insistent everyone gets some and they don't miss anyone. The bull and his mates are all sitting in the shade getting progressively drunker and
consistently blowing on the horn. Young boys, from around the beginning
of March, have made small flutes from bamboo. They play these flutes right up till the Easter fiesta and during it as well. When the food has been eaten, everyone makes their way to another part of the village, and the whole deal of the same kind've food is served again. As an observer, it is quite boring and quite testing sitting in the hot sun only to be forced to eat food that is quite indescribable. It is served to you in a clay bowl with no utensils. The only way atole can be effectively eaten is to hold the bowl to your mouth and suck for all you're worth. You need to do it quickly, as when the atole cools it gets thicker and harder to suck down. I have the added blessing of usually having to finish off my kid's atole. Barry really doesn't like atole and is always trying to palm his off to me as well. Fortunately I don't mind atole, but the fish soup is quite the trial.
Friday is really a repeat of Thursday except there are more drunks around. Of a night time, drunks roam around the village and the dogs go wild. Unfortunately fights can break out and deaths can occur. Fortunately this year the incidents were minimal. There was one stabbing, but the injured man seems to have survived. Some nights drunks came close to our houses, but we turned down the light and laid
low till they moved off.
Saturday the bull makes his way around all the houses in the village. He of course is accompanied by his now very tired and very drunk companions. (They don't sleep all of Friday and Saturday.) They go to each house asking for wine or beer. We of course had none, but did offer some cokes. These are placed on a stool and the bull blows his horn over the meager offering. He staggers into the house and blows his horn all around the room and around the outside of the house. We can only imagine that this is some kind of blessing or means to keep away evil spirits. We were appreciative. The small contingency then stagger off to the next house. Once he has covered the whole village, they make their way back to the church. We didn't go see, but we have been told that their is some kind of ceremony there. All the young boys and many adult men are playing their flutes. At some point in time, they all throw their flutes to the ground and crush them with their feet. The sound of the flutes will not be heard again till close to next Easter. With the flutes broken and their sound gone, the bull now dies. They say he goes up to glory. We don't understand what or who the bull represents, but it seems to tie in with their belief that they actually keep God alive and this is symbolically played out with the playing of the flutes keeping the bull alive.
Sunday is the end of the fiesta and fairly low key. A mock Judas is made and tied to the back of a donkey. He is taken up to the airstrip and paraded there. We didn't witness this part of the fiesta due to drinking and crudeness. Judas is made with parts of a male body being very prominent and exposed. Drunks grab a hold of him and dance with
him, and music is played with guitars. Judas is then killed (we believe burned) and then the church bells sound. The young boys who have been kept inside the church for a couple of hours are released and they come out of the church chased by the sergeants. There is much screaming and yelling, and you feel you are witnessing an attack of the Apaches on some poor unsuspecting western town. Fireworks are set off and the fiesta is officially over.
All this may sound interesting and it can be quite spectacular to watch. Unfortunately, the Tepehuan, although very faithful to keep these traditions, have been incredibly deceived. We need to find out more about the bull and why drinking is involved. Suffice to say, the Tepehuan believe they chose God, and they keep Him alive. God returns the favour by sending rain and giving them good crops. God is not sovereign, but manipulable. Jesus seems non-existent in their fiesta, but they seem to feel he was a cheap skate that bought his way out of having to die. Sin? Well no one even talks about it. Unless the Tepehuan begin to see God for who He really is and that Jesus was God almighty in the flesh, then they will never really see the need to turn to Him.
It was a hard time for our kids who were quite bored at times. With drunks around and some of the religious restrictions the village practices over Easter, they had to stay close to the house. We did take a hike to get away from it all, and a hotdog and marshmallow roast at night helped ease the boredom.
I made a new Tepehuan friend named Teojilo. I met him at the fiesta and later he came up to our house. We had a good time talking but I was shocked and saddened to find out that two of his sons had been murdered. One of them was only thirteen years old and had been killed within the past few days. He was in tears as he told me the story of how the murders had accused them of stealing cattle which was not true. I offered what comfort I could, but sadly Teojilo is set on vengeance and asked if I would be able to get him a gun. I told him I couldn't and suggested he not continue the bloodshed nor the possibility of more family members being killed if he did in fact kill someone in payment. Unfortunately it is the Tepehuan culture to seek vengeance for a murder by killing the murderer or one of his family members. If they don't, they believe the murders will joke about the killing and see them as weak. Pray for Teojilo, I felt out of my depth and realize the Tepehuan need Jesus far sooner than I can get to the point of effectively speaking their language. Miracles need to happen in Lajas, and Jesus needs to show up their. They live sad lives full
of fear, killings, rape, incest, beatings and curses.
Sorry to make this so long and to end on such a sad note, but in reality, Easter is not as happy as it seems in Lajas. They may seem happy and celebrate a fiesta, but they truly live in darkness and held tightly in Satan's hand.
For Jesus,
Andrew and Anne Marie
...
April 2006 report
