Autumn in Ajiijic
Autumn in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico
Here we are in October already. Summer and the rainy seasons are behind us and now we are preparing for Canadian Thanksgiving (October 12th), Halloween (October 31st), The Day of the Dead (November 2nd) and US Thanksgiving (November 27th).
All of these holidays bring their special joys and traditions.
As Ajijic, Lake Chapala has a large Canadian and American population it only makes sense that both Thanksgiving Days are celebrated. Most restaurants offer Thanksgiving dinner specials for both Canadians and Americans. A listing for these dinners and their locations you might wish to consult the Guadalajara Reporter.
For example the Canadian Club hosts the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner at La Nueva Posada October 12th.
Halloween is a new holiday in Mexico and basically started with the advent of the ex-pats. Mexican children have happily adopted Halloween and go from door to door to extract candy. They start very early in the afternoon and some do, in fact, wear costumes. You will also find, however, some teenagers not in costumes of any kind come to your door more than once to try their luck. There are various house Halloween parties and some restaurants and bars have Halloween celebrations as well.
The Day of the Dead is a very interesting time of the year here in Mexico. This is a wonderful holiday to celebrate dearly departed friends and family members. There is special bread baked for the occasion and there are shrines set up around the village and cemetery to honor the recently deceased. The main celebration is held at the cemetery at the west end of Ajijic and is a must see event. There is music, flowers, food, drinks, dancing and all manner of fun shared with those gone to heaven. All the shops have all sorts of Day of the Dead items to sell to commemorate this day and some are quite macabre but highly in demand nonetheless. Many visitors take these items home as they interchange into Halloween decorations nicely.
On November 27th is US Thanksgiving Day and we like the special dinner at La Nueva Posada because we can spend it with our Mexican relatives. The dinner is delicious, very traditional with all the trimmings. They seem to substitute yams and marshmallows with red cabbage which is fine with us.
This date is also important as it heralds the start of the snow birds coming south. They usual head south after US Thanksgiving and head back north just before Easter.
After all of these wonderful events comes Navidad (Christmas) the most beautiful time of year of all here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, but I will save that for another blog.
We have so much to give thanks for here in Ajijic, LakeChapala. We do, after all, live in paradise.