Fiestas Patrias

It was a hundred and ninety nine years ago that Mexico declared what it’s supposed to be its independence from Spain and now we are celebrating Las Fiestas Patrias, because anything can be a good excuse to let your hair down and forget about life for a moment.  Mexico, as a so-called independent country needs now --more than ever-- the motivation of festivities to forget that, although arguably independent from Spain, there are a lot of dependencies that the country wrestles against which have its people emigrating (even internally) in the search for better opportunities of life, while the Mexican druglords join forces with the American warlords to sack the country.

     But who is going to celebrate in the USA? Anybody happening to be close to where a celebration takes place: Mexicans, Chicanos, Hispanics, and even some “uncircumspect” (and uncircumcised, probably) Gringos.  It doesn’t matter if they claim Aztlan or Rancho-Grande as the motherland, or if their father was a bracero, a zoot-suiter, or an obrero down in Mexico; because the need to claim the roots and to use it as an excuse to celebrate is shared equally across the board.

     So don’t be surprised to see the Mexican stores packed to the limit --we’re not swearing it’s going to happen, though-- with all kinds of improvised cooks in the search for the ingredients to fix their typical dishes, because food is something very important when it comes to “claiming” your Mexican roots.  There are going to be social events like music shows and festivals that will bring people together, even if just for the occasion.  

     People are also going to gather in houses, where Spanish and Spanglish will prevail, for their carne-asadas followed by their respective borracheras --also as a way of claiming the heritage.  When they meet in a setting like this they eat and drink together, and the tequila might start rolling, singing along to whatever the music of choice may be; or just holding conversations in a usually expressive manner, which sometimes gets overheated and leads to violence; but they always find their way out of it, without having to take the right exit necessarily.

     Fiestas Patrias can be a good excuse to get out of the routine, and they also provide some Mexicans with the so-sought after overnight-life-changing-experience in the form of a DUI, their first hang-over, their first sexual encounter, their first homosexual encounter, or even their first encounter of the third type, depending on how loaded the celebrant may get; it doesn’t matter how immune he or she may feel to all that.  

     With all that being said, and with the official briefing (and risk assessment) out of the way, the invitation goes out to everybody who wants to partake of the Fiestas Patrias spirit and at the same time wants a distraction from the crudeness of the present reality. Because we understand that in these times of economical --and existential-- crisis, distraction and forgetfulness are bliss.  Happy Fiestas Patrias!

Note: This article appeared originally on a now defunct online magazine, and I wrote it on account of Mexico’s Independence Day.