Fiesta La Manzanilla 2013 - a small history lesson

Posted by Mujer Bionica 4 the Committee on January 17, 2013, 6:36 am
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It is that time again, folks! Get ready to dance and dine and have a good time! This year it’s a four day fiesta of dancing, birria, bull riding and great company. Various groups take it in turns to sponsor a day of fun and frolic. The celebration is called "Fiesta Del Toros La Manzanilla", and its purpose is to celebrate the town's birthday, the day when Mexicans were allowed to "own" land. When the Ejido land system was implemented after the machete wars took the land away from the Hacienda owners. The Haciendas were huge sections of land owned mainly by the Spanish. This year’s celebration begins on Wed Feb 6 (LM Anniversary day) with Ejido Day – the costs of serving up all the fun is borne by LM Ejiditario. Actually, things begin the night before with the farola and a Banda in the square… dancing in the streets! Day two – Thursday, Feb 7 is Gringo Day (for our purposes here Canadians are Gringos, too) and it is the donations of ex-pats in town that carry the day and feed the masses. It is our opportunity to say thank you to our Mexican hosts for this town we love so dearly! We hope you will be generous with your money - buy a ticket or two and a tshirt or simply make a donation to the cause. We also count on the help of many to serve the birria (that’s stew to you) to our Mexican friends and neighbours at 2 pm at the Casino. It doesn’t end here though as everyone follows the Banda down to the rodeo grounds about 4 pm to watch dancing horses, bull riders and the cowboy clowns until darkness falls. The last event of each day is a big dance at the Casino. Day 3 and 4 are similarly sponsored by other organizations or towns and follow the same format of farola, birria luncheon, rodeo, and dance. Stay tuned for more info on ticket ($150p) and tshirt($150p) sales – they’ll be available very soon.

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Be sure to visit www.lamanzanilla.info