Tlacotalpan: La Candelaria Day 3

The highlight of the third day is taking the image of the Candelaria Virgin on the river for a cruise. This is the heart of this main day of the festival. While the rest of the country is celebrating Nino Dios (Baby Jesus), Tlacotalpan celebrates The Virgin. Before the conquistadors arrived, there must have been a local goddess - could be one of the many we saw in the Xalapa Anthropology Museum - who had a yearly boat ride about this time of the year. We have been to many processions; a river procession is a first.

Tlacotalpan is on the UNESCO list as a colonial river town. Unlike the other colonial settlements that have turned into major cities with sprawl. Tlacotalpan is not much bigger than it was at its height whenever that was, with wide, porticoed streets and colorful houses. Outside festival time, it could be a rather underwhelming UNESCO site.

The procession of the Virgin from the church to the boat in photos.






































The procession of the Virgin from the church to the boat in videos. Link 1. Link 2. Link 3. Link 4. Link 5. Link 6. Link 7.














That night, high winds cancelled lighting of the fireworks tower, which had been laboriously erected during the day. However, the kids in the plaza had fun chasing and running from the firecracker spewing, running bull.












Bonus.