【reference】Oaxaca's Spirit of Celebration

Grace Guo from China
                
                
                
                Photo: Sandy Peters
A temporary stage next to the 'Catedral de Oaxaca' and rows of folded chairs built up an open air theatre. There were different kinds of performances, dance, singing, and symphonies every night; they never stopped.
                
                Photo: Sandy Peters
Life is filled with dance, concerts, parades, giants, fireworks, flowers, trumpets, balloons. Celebration becomes such a basic element of life.
  
Sometimes I wonder whether people celebrate because there is something to celebrate or people celebrate because they want to celebrate.
A friend of mine said, 揚eople in Oaxaca celebrate everyday, but I抦 not sure what they are celebrating for.�
Maybe for some of us, life is too serious; but in Oaxaca, celebration is the spirit. Life is filled with dance, concerts, parades, giants, fireworks, flowers, trumpets, and balloons. Celebration becomes such a basic element of life.
When I was there around Christmas, the Zocalo was an ocean of poinsettias. In the evening, colorful balloons blocked the sky.
Walking on the street, quite a few times I ran into parades. Beautifully dressed women danced on the street, accompanied by singing bands. Fireworks lit up the sky.
Celebration in Oaxaca was not complicated at all. Around the zocalo, there were always live music bands playing the beautifully sad Mexican music.
Maybe because it was around Christmas, I saw four weddings in a single day. Each wedding was a big celebration. The live music band followed the couple to the church. People laughed, hugged, sometimes tears sparkled in their eyes. In Oaxaca, it抯 hard to not to be happy.