HOW ANIMALS ARE BLESSED IN MEXICAN TOWNS.
By S. F. Examiner
ONE of the most remarkable and curious sights in the world is the blessing of animals in many of the most ancient towns in Mexico, annually on August 30th. For weeks beforehand the visitor hears of the approaching ceremony, as among the oldest, oddest, and most peculiar spectacles of that land of siestas and quaint customs. As the day approaches, the entire community, in each town where the ceremony is to take place, decorate the houses and streets with strings of varicolored tissue paper, and stalks of carrizo, the Mexican bamboo. The animals to be blessed are assembled outside the church in flocks and herds. They are driven in from farms miles around, beginning their journey early in the day, and gradually choking the roads and alleys, and putting a stop to traffic for that day. There are horses with paper sashes about their bodies, their tails braided with ribbons, and manes intertrimmed with flaming paper roses. Then there are cats and kittens, in long dolly dresses, and very frilly caps tied under their reluctant chins, their solemn, round eyes staring unblinkingly out from under the frills; and birds galore—love birds, mocking-birds, canaries, all in cages beribboned and beflowered. But funniest of all are the chickens in peaked caps of paper, tied also under their feathery chins—their sharp beaks and beady eyes inside the paper ruffles being a very ludicrous sight. They are further dressed in paper cloaks of varied hue, and pink and green paper garters are tied about their long legs in large bows. Presently appears a white-robed priest inside; he spreads his hands in blessing for a moment, while an attendant holds aloft a silver crucifix; a burst of music from the state band stationed near—a pause, while the priest looks down solemnly on the multitude waiting below. Then, taking a large brush, the priest fills it full of holy water, and sprinkles it far and wide, while the anxious owners below push, pull, hold up, and thump their charges so that each may catch but a drop.