The Plague Cancels Carnival and New Years Resolutions

 Melinda Palacio 

As if the thought of Covid-19 muscling its way into 2021 isn’t enough, there’s the shenanigans from Trump supporters looting and rioting and disrupting democracy. The week started off with dismal news about hospitals throughout California reaching capacity. A brief phone call with my sister, an emergency room nurse in Bell Flower and everything Dr. Fauci said about a surge on top of a surge on top of a surge is coming home to roost. Many people decided to have big gatherings for thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, moving everyone back to square one, back on lockdown, only this time, doctors, nurses and paramedics must pick and choose who has the highest chance for survival. It’s a dire situation that could have been avoided had we had a real leader instead of a selfish charlatan. 

Instead of focusing our collective attention on how we are going to solve this pandemic and get vaccines in people’s areas, we were distracted by trump supporters who fancied themselves storming the Bastille and starting a revolution or civil war. What we saw on television was looters who were gently shoved away and a police force absent of the type of force it wielded during Black Life Matters protests. 

This week should have ushered in the Three Kings and the start of carnival, culminating in Marti Gras. I should have been busy setting resolutions and planning on what normal might look like beyond the plague. Marti Gras in New Orleans has been canceled and this might be my first year in over a decade without King Cake.  Instead, I was glued to the television, watching the home grown terrorist attack the nation’s capital building, all in the name of the traitor -in- chief. Can we depose him already? 

I have one feel good story to share with you. Many readers of La Bloga know I’ve been learning ukulele for the past year. If you’ve read my COVID Christmas post, you’ll know that my neighbor gave me a guitar. I offered to teach her how to play the ukulele. Last week I gave her first lesson and she did so well. She learned three songs. Music is the gift that keeps on giving. I’m so honored to be able to teach my first music student. Teaching my neighbor ukulele over zoom is something I never imagined I would do. I never thought I would learn how to play the little instrument, let alone be good enough to teach someone else.  My neighbor is an older lady who is retired and lives alone. She says she was the first woman to own a house in her corner cul de sac. She swims in the ocean enjoys birding in the neighborhood. And she’s an early bird. If I hadn’t walked my dog early in the morning, I might not have met her. Here’s to new encounters in the new year. Somehow being isolated has introduced me to a wonderful neighbor I didn’t know. I’m looking forward to more fortuitous meetings in 2021. You?

The Carnival Is Over. Mardi Gras 2016

Melinda Palacio

Masking for Carnival in New Orleans

This carnival season was particularly brutal. Cue the violin music: one long party from second week of December to February 9. Lent and a little public restraint came yesterday on Ash Wednesday as the city of New Orleans tried to get back to normal. What is normal in the Big Easy? Being able to get across town in 15 minutes instead of being stuck in limbo for an hour as parade floats, police cars, and road barriers block traffic. It's a good thing I know the city's groove, but I made a mistake last Saturday and tried to use my normal parade shortcut through Claiborne. Saturday, is the day to take Tchoupitoulas because floats from the Iris parade line up on Claiborne. And forget about doing any work on Sunday or Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). Mardi Gras is self explanatory, parades, parties, and overall mayhem begin at 8 am. The Sunday before Mardi Gras, a parade passes in front of my house. If friends don't come to me, I am land locked. Next year, I just might ride my bike out of the neighborhood. However, I recall saying something to the effect last year. However, I've learned to let the good times roll and roll with them. The parade is fun and after it's all over and the riders throw beads, hats, stuffed animals, masks, head pieces, doubloons, and more, the heroes of carnival come and sweep away all the garbage. This year was bittersweet because my grandmother has been in and out of the hospital the entire carnival season. My husband and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and spend Valentine's day with my grandmother in Del Rio. My post is cut short as I head back to Texas in a few hours. As I head back to the world of hospital beds and resilient people, I think of Michele Serros who would have turned 50 this week and Francisco X. Alarcon whom we recently transitioned.

Parade Sweepers

Heroes of carnival leave no signs that a huge parade took place minutes ago.

A Musical Interlude from Carnival 2016

Melinda Palacio

The Louisiana Philharmonic at St. Louis Cathedral

            Carnival season is in full swing in New Orleans this weekend. I took advantage of a musical interlude last Wednesday. Don't get me wrong, I love a parade. What would carnival in New Orleans be like without the marching bands playing and dancing their hearts out and the sport of catching beads, especially handmade throws from float riders.

Throws from the Joan of Arc parade.

            Wednesday was the first time I had heard the Louisiana Philharmonic. Los Angeles and the Disney Concert Center has Gustavo Dudamel and New Orleans and Louisiana has Carlos Miguel Prieto, Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Louisiana Philharmonic. Prieto is a native of Mexico. He is the most enthusiastic and playful conductor I've seen. To be fair, I am not a seasoned concert attendee, nor have I seen the famous Dudamel (although I'd love to). However, I have experienced joy and know fine talent when I see it. Carlos Miguel Prieto is both joyous and talented. His love for music speakes volumes in the way his entire body dances to the music while his arms conduct with expert skill and grace. He urged the audience to applaud French Soprano Alice Lestang to the point he had the entire musical congregation stomping their feet until she came back on stage for even more applause. The acoustics in the church were not the best, but the experience of listening to sounds emanate from Ms. Lestang's diaphram was nothing short of religious, and St. Louis Cathedral was an appropriate venue for the show. Her voice emanated from her entire being. This was not the case for the student sopranos who were very good but not as magnanimous and precise in their vocalizations.

            The concert honored and reproduced the diverse musical selections offered during the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition of 1884. During that international fair, the largest presence was Mexico, thanks to the efforts of President Porfirio Díaz. Mexican music, especially brass bands influence on jazz in New Orleans was an important component of the fair's legacy.

St. Louis Cathedral in background

            Mexico was also represented in Wednesday's concert by the conductor and marimba player, Julian Romero Pacheco, who played a Guatemalan Rondo Allegro in tribute to the Quiche Maya who introduced Marimba music to New Orleans. As lagniappe (a little something extra), Pacheco played a Mexican tune on the marimba, the well known Sanduga from Oaxaca. I was familiar with the Bach selections and Strauss's Voices of Spring, having watched many Bugs Bunny episodes as a child, but less familiar with the Wagner and the Charles Gounod selections that were sung by the incredible Alice Lestang.

Inside the Cathedral

            Tonight parades begin and continue almost every day through Fat Tuesday. I'm sure I will treasure this quiet moment fondly, as the title of the concert suggests, A Fair to Remember, the 1884-1885 Concert Season in New Orleans.

Carnival Time and Letting Go by Melinda Palacio

A family celebrates Mardi Gras Nola style on St. Charles Avenue

Call it a coincidence that Letting Go is the theme at the Wild Lotus Yoga Studio in New Orleans. When I’m in town, I benefit from blissful moments at Wild Lotus, although yesterday’s class left me slightly crippled (what I get for taking a vacation from exercise as well). During the crazy carnival season, ‘letting go’ is an important reminder. Simple errands, such as making groceries (as they say in New Orleans), can be impossible if you lose a good parking spot or are in a hurry to see the next parade.

I began the carnival season with the intention of forgoing the idea of experiencing carnival in Panama. My sister used last year’s dates for carnival when she booked our airline tickets, an easy mistake if you don’t celebrate Mardi Gras or Easter regularly. I told her that I would be spending Mardi Gras in New Orleans with friends and family. She assured me that Carnival in Panama was different than Carnival in New Orleans or Brazil or the rest of the world celebrating the Catholic festival. The calendar mix-up ensured we had a more authentic experience and enjoyable trip to the Panama. She didn’t realize that Mardi Gras and Easter are dependant on the ever wavering cycles of the moon. The festivities last for weeks on end, before Fat Tuesday and the ensuing fast for lent. However, New Orleans will certainly break the lent fasting shortly after Mardi Gras for the St. Patrick’s Day parade next weekend. Mardi Gras falls on Tuesday, March 8. Mardi Gras can occur as early as February 3 and as late as March 9. This year leaves very little wiggle room for the lent respite of the St. Patick’s Day and St. Joseph Day celebrations.

As someone who has experienced Mardi Gras for seven years, since before Hurricane Katrina, I know that the city’s people population seems to double in size. Dining at a favorite restaurant like Jacques-imo’s can be a challenge, sometimes impossible the weekend before Mardi Gras day. This year HBO has decided to make things on my block a little more interesting. The Episode Manager left a flyer on my doorstep, “Filming Night Parade, Muses, in Your Area.” The all-female krewe has been a favorite parade for over a decade. Add HBO to the mix and I must be homebound and parade bound for the evening. Although the letter assured us the cable show’s “footprint” would be small, I let go of the idea of accomplishing anything other than parading that evening with the cast and crew of Treme, my neighbors, and all the tourists from the North Shore crowding for a chance to catch some girly throws and plastic beads made in China. I had high hopes of going to yoga today, but I let go of that idea as well.

Next week, Mardi Gras gives way to lent and the St. Patrick's Day parades. I will be driving back to California. On Sunday, March 13, I join the Hitched: Writing in Political Oppression Poetry Series at Beyond Baroque, along with Sholeh Wolpe, Alicia Partnoy, Ramon Garcia, and Bilal Shaw, hosted by Xochitl-Julissa Bermeo at 4pm, 681 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291.

Fiesta en la Coffee Table

Do you remember coffee table books? Yes, I know, I’m showing my age, but that’s what we used to call them in my day. My parents always had a collection of glorious, large-format hardcover tomes filled with rich artwork spread across our Herman Miller coffee table. Even as a small child I liked to flip them open, careful not to tear their precious dust covers, and peak inside at the big pictures.

I think the preferred term is now “gift books” and I rarely see them on actual coffee tables anymore. Pity. Though to be honest I can also understand. In those days homes often had formal living rooms for entertaining and the kids confined their messes to the den or their own rooms. Now I wouldn’t dare leave my favorite “gift books” on the table for fear of desecration by my son’s fruit juice or cola (it’s never him, you see, it is the drink itself that propels itself toward the tan living room rug). So my favorite coffee table book is carefully stored away, taken out whenever a visitor arrives who I know would appreciate it, or when I simply want to revisit it. My favorite is called Fiesta en Puerto Rico and represents a collaboration between photographer Paola Nogueras and writer and graphic designer Tere Dávila. It offers a bouquet of rich colors, heart-warming images, and a detailed history of the island through the lens of its many and varied festivals.

I just reread it for the second time as there is so much to take in. The first time through you are so stunned by Nogueras’ glorious images of revelers of every age captured in moments of festivity, their heads covered in tiaras, masks or ribbons, their feet frozen mid-dance step. But the second time through you’re able to focus on the words that complement the photographs like sand and sea, and you can’t help but be drawn into this lush and vibrant world. While describing the history of the different festivals of Puerto Rico, Dávila touches on so much about culture, religion, sociology and more, and the images of costumed children, elaborately masked vejigantes, flower-draped religious figures and life-size caricatures conjure a feast for the eyes as well as the mind. It makes me want to plan a trip to the Coffee Harvest Festival in Yauco (as café-obsessed as I am) and the San Sebastian event in Old San Juan with its participants sporting massive heads of Juan Bobo or Maximina La Loca.

The printing quality is outstanding, and at 240 pages it is substantial. Its text is in English and Spanish broadening its readership beyond language borders. I recently had the pleasure of talking to the photographer, the delightful Paola Nogueras, and wanted to share her thoughts with you today. And after visiting with Paola why not order a copy of Fiesta en Puerto Rico , maybe even for your coffee table!

How many festivals did you attend to gather the photos for the book?

I attended about 47 different festivals over the course of three years to collect the material for Fiesta. Some of the festivals are not represented because we found better photo opportunities at other festivals or because the theme of the festival simply didn't fit into our concept.

The diversity of festivals you cover is quite impressive, between religious, cultural and harvest festivals they are all there. Which one of all those you covered was your favorite?

I really enjoyed covering Carnival in Ponce. The color and visual aspects of the carnival are really spectacular. Everywhere I turned there was something else to photograph. I was born in Ponce and I visit frequently since a lot of my family still resides there. I was really proud of my home town for the way they ran the festival and the richness of the cultural display. It is also one of the few celebrations I attended that started on time. Many times I would show up to the festival and festivities wouldn't start for another 2 or 3 hours. I especially felt bad for the "reinas" who are outside in the sun with dresses which often weigh 30-40 pounds waiting for the parade to begin.

I also loved the celebration of La Virgen del Carmen. To witness people's profound devotion was a very moving experience. The same is true of the Three King's Day celebration in Juana Diaz, when they raise the baby and show him off to the crowd calling "Que viva el Niño Jesús."

In reality many of the festivals had something special that really made the work enjoyable whether it was the cabezudos dancing through the streets of Old San Juan or the Enmascarados singing as they paraded through Moca. These were truly magical experiences that I won't forget.

Have you returned to any of the festivals again, this time just for fun?

I have returned to several of the festivals including the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian, las Fiestas de Santiago Apostol, los Enmascarados de Moca and the Fiesta de Reyes in Juana Diaz. I have also gone to some festivals that I didn't get to during my work on Fiesta.

La Bloga will be speaking with you at length about your latest release next month, but can you give us a small taste of what the new book is about?

The new book Manos del Pueblo: Artesanos de Puerto Rico was a natural follow-up to Fiesta. Artisans are present at almost all the festivals on the island. While I was presenting Fiesta in Borders one of the artisans, Ibsen Peralta approached me and suggested I do the book on artisans. After several tests I realized there was ample material to publish another book. We were lucky to find sponsorship for the book from Mapfre so we overcame one of the harder hurdles right off the bat. Many people say they actually like Manos del Pueblo better than Fiesta. But for Tere and me Fiesta still holds a special place in our hearts.

This is your second collaboration with writer Tere Dávila, how did you two coordinate the writing with the pictures? Did you attend some of the festivals together?

Tere agreed to write Fiesta after most of the photos had been taken, so we didn't go to the festivals together but she did attend several on her own. I actually stayed at Tere's house while doing the Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian because Old San Juan can get pretty crazy during the festival. It was great to be in Old San Juan and not have to worry about parking or traffic jams in and out of the city.

Because Tere and I have known each other for most of our lives and have been very close I had complete confidence in her. She not only wrote Fiesta but she also gave her creative vision to the book. Many of the ideas of the layouts came from her expert sense of design. She was too busy to write Manos del Pueblo but instead introduced me to Gloria Borras who did a wonderful job of capturing the experiences of the artisans in her text. But Tere did design Manos and it is a tribute to her skill and vision that even though the book deals with similar subjects she never allowed it to become photographically monotonous.

Did your son Gabriel accompany you to any of these events? If so, was his child's eye take different from yours?

Gabriel actually accompanied me to many of the festivals. He really loved Carnival with the vejigantes. One of the traditions in Ponce is that the vejigantes carry vejigas (pig bladders which they dry, inflate and paint) and they go around chasing and hitting the teenagers (especially the girls) with them. Gabriel was around 5 at the time and was disappointed that the vejigantes wouldn't chase him so I asked one of them to swat Gabriel a couple of times with the vejiga and he was very happy to have been included in the fun. He accompanied me to several of the Three King celebrations as well as the Enmascarados in Moca.

After the book was done Gabriel really took ownership for the project. He was very proud of what we had accomplished and shared those experiences with his teachers and classmates insisting we donate a book to his school.

In your short book jacket biography you mention you hoped to leave Philadelphia and return to Puerto Rico to live one day. Has that day come yet?

I still live in Philly and probably will until Gabriel leaves for college in another 6 years. But we do spend a considerable amount of time in Puerto Rico which makes the separation from "mi islita" a little easier.

Tell us something that's not on the official bio.

I took 13,000 photos during the years I worked on Fiesta. I'm an avid scuba diver and a fourth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.