Las Fiestas en Enero–Jaripeo

January has come around again, and it’s time for the annual festival in Moroleon. Although the events seldom vary, our own experience with the festival has.

This year, our now 13-year old young man begged and pleaded to go to the fair with his friends rather than with us. Our schedule remains complicated, so he had to wear his school uniform, rather than ‘cool’ clothes, but he said he had fun. The first week was 2 x 1 admission which included unlimited rides and the circus, now with no wild animals performances. They did add the log flume to the ride repertoire, although getting drenched in frigid January temperatures isn’t ideal.

At the fair

I’ve decided that I’m too old for amusement park rides–my equilibrium isn’t what it used to be. My husband has an extremely weak stomach and never was a big fan of rides. So he and I decided we’d enjoy the festivities by going to a jaripeo (rodeo) instead.

When we found out that the jaripeo would be in the Lienzo Charro Nuevo, which was specifically dedicated to el Sr. de Escapulitas, and had free admission–there was nothing more to do but march our little fannies across the road from La Yacata and attend.

Our son decided that he wasn’t interested in attending, so just my husband and I set out.

Even though the rodeo was less than a five-minute walk from our house, my husband insisted we take the truck. Apparently, walking to such events is just not done. Sure enough, we saw several of our neighbors with their trucks there.

My husband clarified that this was not a jaripeo, even though that’s how it was announced, but a charreada–a skills presentation rather than real rodeo, but I didn’t care. The nearest I can figure is a true jaripeo is fairly dangerous to bull, horse, rider, and audience and may result in the death of any of the aforementioned participants. Whereas a charreada seldom results in death, although injuries, sometimes severe, do occur.

The charreada became popular when there were haciendas in Mexico, adapted from traditions brought from Spain in the 16th century. Originally, the charreada was a competition between the families of neighboring haciendas. The charreada is made up of 9 events for men and one event for women, all involving horses and cattle.

I had some mixed feelings watching the charreada. I enjoyed watching the horsemanship and rope tricks. However, I felt sorry for the undernourished yeguas (mares) that were roped and tripped and harassed. Most seemed to be about the same age as our Joey, but so thin and small, with large patches of hair missing from their hindquarters. I asked my husband what happens if one of the horses is injured in the fall. Sadly, they are fed to the lions. Yes, Moroleon has lions at the local zoo. Unmanageable, sick, unwanted, injured horses and donkeys are bought and served up fresh to the small lion pack at Los Areas Verdes.

Partying in honor of Las Fiestas de Enero continued on until the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. We opted to steer clear of that again this year. It’s cold, noisy, smelly and just not a whole lot of fun for us old fogies. The fair is here 2 full weeks and events such as the jaripeos are randomly interspersed in between. The “trastes”(dishes) stand also comes to town but no longer sets up with the circus. It rents an open area near Soriana for their tents now, probably cheaper. Dishes, glasses, pots, pans, cooking utensils, dish towels and the like can be found there. They aren’t less expensive than the regular stores, but there is more of a selection.

I have a special treat for those of you from Moroleon. My friend Claudia and I worked up a little book for children that highlights some of the more interesting historical tidbits about Moroleon.

The History of Moroleon for Kids (Kindle)