The San Felipe Carnival's Quema
de Mal Humor
It was a cold San Felipe night on the Malecon and the
lights from the cantinas, added to the bare bulbs of
the churro and garrapinada booths, did nothing to warm
the air. A predominantly Mexican crowd, sprinkled with
a few gringos, walked up and down the seafront, visiting
trinket tables, food stalls and finally gathering at
the foot of the big stage set up at the north end of
the road. The older members of the crowd were bundled
up like Egyptian Amarna kings in their sarcophagi. The
young women were more aware of their biological mandates
and wore the least amount of clothing required to safeguard
against frostbite and, in some cases, indecency. For
a few of them, the cold worked to their advantage.
While chips of ice pretended to be stars overhead,
people tried to warm their hands with cell phone batteries
or gain a few joules of heat from a cigarette ember
or digital camera flash. Some glanced calculatingly
at the fat balloons of cotton candy balanced on the
tip of their vendor's carrying pole, wondering if the
finely spun sugar might make good hand or ear muffs.
Many looked longing up at the great hanging effigy of
the Bad Humor Man, haloed with fuses and fireworks,
waiting for the patient match to set it ablaze. A fire
truck was parked nearby, ready to ensure no one performed
a moth-to-Coleman-lamp ritual in a desperate attempt
to get warm.
Again there were too few garbage cans for the crowd
and the barrels were stacked high as hoodoos with cardboard
and styrofoam discards. The band played with frenetic
intensity, which pretty much guaranteed they were the
only warm ones in the area.
Finally one of the firemen unfurled a hose and started
the fire truck's pump. Someone climbed on the deck of
the truck with the elevating bucket that dangled the
effigy. He activated the winch and lowered the icon
toward an outstretched arm holding a cigarette lighter.
A fat fuse sizzled while the cage rose up again. Then
a wild spatter and crackle filled the air and the paper
figure began to spin in a pyrotechnic fury, throwing
off a welder's display of sparks. After several courses
of spinning and pauses, there were a few moments of
silence before a tremendous explosion shook the windows
and sea wall and a shower of tattered paper and cardboard
hailed down on the closest bystanders. The skeleton
of the effigy was laid bare at that instant. The crowd
laughed and cheered. For a moment, they were warm.
The Quema de Mal Humor, or "Burning of
Bad Humor," is a tradition in carnavals around
Mexico at this time. An effigy, usually modeled after
an unpopular politician or a local majordomo, is hanged
and burned. It symbolically erases the discomfort attached
to the figure and ushers in the commencement of the
celebrations.
Click
on the Photo Below for More Pictures |
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Just as the dates for Easter vary from
year to year, so do the dates for Carnaval.
Here they are for the next few years:
2009 - February 19 to 24
2010 - February 11 to 16
2011 - March 3 to March 9
