Somewhere along the line, it became tradition for the baby to wear not just any old clothes for the Candlemas mass, but new ones. Like many of the traditions that took hold after the Spanish conquest, the gentle Mexican people didn’t resist the culture of their captors but simply patch-worked it onto an already complex anthropological quilt. It’s a tradition unique to Mexico to dress the God Child each year in new clothes for presentation at mass on Día de la Candelaria. The person who finds the plastic figure then hosts the party on Día de la Candalaria, traditionally providing tamales and drinks for the whole group.īut back to Jesus and his clothes. When families and friends share the wreath-shaped Rosca de Reyes (literally “coil of the kings”) bread, there is a hidden plastic baby Jesus somewhere in it. On Kings’ Day January 6, celebrating the day that the three wise men reached the manger to give the newborn Jesus their gifts, the Niño Dios figure also receives presents from the magi (as do Mexican children rather than from the commercially sold-out Santa Claus). There is the requisite holy family: angels, wise men and shepherds, but often a wider range of animals than in typically portrayed in el Norte – turkeys and gorillas have been spotted in local scenes here. On Christmas Eve, the family’s Ninõ Dios takes his place in the traditional nativity scene, which usually involves a hillside setting complete with a stream, animals on the hill and manger at the top.

A Niño Dios isn’t just for families or individuals to display there are many in Catholic churches around the world that are venerated and visited throughout the year. Many Mexican families own a Niño Dios (God child), often a family heirloom, whom plays a prominent part in religious celebrations throughout the year.

To be fair, dressed Jesus figurines are not as much of a stretch as small furry animals making climate predictions. That’s the tenuous connection to Groundhog Day, when we in America try to figure if there will be more winter weather or spring will begin. Like many religious celebrations in the early days of Christianity, it was also handily camouflaged by a coinciding pagan celebration – in this case the halfway mark between the winter solstice on December 21 and the spring equinox on March 21. Someone had to do the math on this – as according to Jewish law, a woman was sequestered with a new baby for 40 days following the birth – to work out that December 25 + 40 days = February 2. Well, sort of.Īlso known as Candlemas or the Presentation of Christ at the Temple, the religious holiday is celebrated on February 2 according to the biblical record of the day that Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the temple. What I understood, in my poor Spanish after asking several people, was that it was a celebration of the day that Jesus first wore clothes – graduating as it were from swaddling clothes. Dressed up and sitting in a chair, no less. The first time I was here in February, two years ago, (thinking only of it as Groundhog Day, which it is in the U.S.), I wondered why everyone on the street was carrying a baby Jesus in their arms. Like many holidays in this fantastic country, it’s a wonderful and mind-boggling fusion of Catholicism, indigenous tradition and modern culture. At first glance they might have been cowboys or goat herders, but on further reflection they were probably just simple pilgrims on a holy journey.Īll were part of the February 2 celebration in Oaxaca of Día de la Candelaria, celebrated throughout the Hispanic Catholic world, it is a deeply sentimental tradition in Mexico. He was in good company, among a dozen or so other Niños Dioses (God Children), dressed in clothing from satin capes and regal crowns to simple robes and straw hats. He was wearing a white doctor’s coat, had a stethoscope draped around his tiny ceramic neck, and was carrying a personalized black medical bag.

2 de febrero dia de la candelaria