17 December 2008

Equal Opportunity for Devils

We are just now entering the season of posadas and pastorelas. My suegra Carmelita runs a “jardín para niños” which we call a “kindergarden” in English and what Mexicans commonly call a “kinder” (pronounced “KEEN-der”). Every year Carmelita and her teachers and students put on a pastorela pageant for the parents, relatives and friends of the children. I was tickled to see that this year all of the devils were female. I remember reading some posts by my fellow bloggers that mentioned little boys playing the part of the devils who would lead the poor shepherds astray in their quest to find the baby Jesus. Well, I am pleased to report that apparently in Irapuato at least, the females are judged to be just as capable of devilish acts as the males and I have the pictures to prove it.







6 comments:

Frankly Ronda said...

I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about this Mexican tradition. All our little devils were very precious - especially mine!

YayaOrchid said...

What cute little people! Thanks for sharing about this tradition. They look so eager and keen in their little costumes.

1st Mate said...

Yeah, I noticed the devils cozying up to one of the Three Kings, too. And that frowning angel looks like she just saw the daily stock reports! Caramba!

GlorV1 said...

I enjoyed learning about this tradition and the children are so cute and innocent in their wear. Thanks Bob. Enjoy your day.

Unknown said...

Bob:

E aquí una palabra "nueva" para ti. Párvulo. That is how we used to call kinders in Pueblo Nuevo. Los niños de párvulo o párvulos. No se desde cuando le han cambiado a kinder pero ahora no he visto a ningún párvulo, aunque es lo mismo y se oye mejor, ¿No cree Ud.?

Bob Mrotek said...

Thank you everyone for the great feedback and the nice comments.

Alfredo...I believe you that "kinder" was once "párvulo". My dictionary says that "párvulo" means "infant" and kindergarden is "parvulario". Could that also be true? I think perhaps the word "kinder" came with the gringo invasion, eh? In any case, thank you very much for the new word for my collection :)

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I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.