February is Fiesta time in La Manzanilla del Mar

Posted by Rennie on January 29, 2013, 4:06 pm
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February is right around the corner and that means it is time to celebrate in the traditional Mexican way with four days of music, dancing, birria, and bull riding. This year there will also be a fifth day of 4 pm activities at the rodeo grounds. It looks like this: Day 1: Feb 6, Ejido Day (76th) birria, rodeo, dance Day 2: Feb 7, Gringo Day birria, rodeo, dance Day 3: Feb 8, La Huerta birria, rodeo, dance Day 4: Feb 9, Pollos y Pollas birria, rodeo, dance Day 5: Feb 10, Parroquia Immaculata Concepción, rodeo only 4PM Fiesta La Manzanilla 2013 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. A fifth day of ‘rodeo only’ has been added. The celebration is called "Fiesta De Toros La Manzanilla", and its purpose is to celebrate the town's birthday, the day when Mexicans were allowed to "own" land. This was when the Ejido land system was implemented after the machete wars took the land away from the Hacienda owners, mainly the Spanish, who owned huge sections of land. Even the smallest villages throughout Mexico traditionally hold a Fiesta de Toros to celebrate their emancipation ‘way back when’ from these Spanish landowners. Individual fiestas coincide with the date each Ejido was formally enacted, giving the people management of the land on which they’d previously been, basically, slaves. Day # 1 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 (Feb 5) with the farola and a Banda in the square…there’ll be dancing in the streets! More on that later… Day # 2 Thursday, Feb 7 is Gringo Day and it is the donations of ex-pats in town that carry the day and create the birria for luncheon. It is our opportunity to say thank you to our Mexican hosts for this town we love so dearly! This is not a party FOR us, it is a party BY us to say “Muchas Gracias, Amigos” so we hope you will be generous with your money - buy a ticket or two and a t-shirt, or, if you are not able to attend, simply make a donation to the cause. We also count on the help of many to serve the birria 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 at 4:00 pm to watch dancing horses, bull riders and the cowboy clowns until darkness falls. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 3 and 4 are similarly sponsored by the organizations noted above and follow the same format of farola the night before, birria luncheon, rodeo, followed by a ticketed dance at the Casino. Day 5 will consist of a rodeo at 4 pm. Even the street food vendors get into the act each evening – moving their venues to the Casino for the week. The last event of each day is a big unsponsored dance at the Casino. Costs for each evening's entertainment will vary. Stay tuned for more helpful information...

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