LURE OF CHRISTMASES PAST

12/23/05

By CAMILLA COHEE
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

They go by plane, by bus or by car, piling in packages and passengers for what can be a two-day journey. Some come back by foot through an unforgiving desert. Some can't get back at all.

Yet the allure of Christmas in Mexico -- the warmth, the childhood memories, the traditions that can't be replicated here even if they try -- sends countless local families with roots south of the border trekking across the line and back year after year.

As the U.S. government looks to further tighten border controls, some local Mexicans in this nation illegally say making the trip to reunite with their families is becoming riskier, but still worth it.

Juan Reyes, who works at a local restaurant, said getting into Mexico isn't a problem, but he'll have to come back on foot through the desert of Arizona, where one of his sisters died trying to get across.

"It's very difficult, a huge sacrifice, but I do it because it's a necessity," said Mr. Reyes, whose wife, baby and extended family all live in Mexico. He came here for work. "I have to support them. My parents are all there, my siblings are all there, the work is here."

Christmas here is just not the same, he said.

"There is something missing," he said. "It's so beautiful there, the posadas, the breaking of the pinatas, the food."

When you're raised with it, it becomes part of who you are and anything else leaves you melancholy, said Carpinterian Roberto Pulido, who left Thursday for Guadalajara with his two young sons, Jose Maria, 10, and Roberto, 8, who have never been to Mexico at Christmastime.

"I grew up with this, and I want my sons to understand it and know it, too," said Mr. Pulido, who works in housekeeping at a local hotel.

Speaking in Spanish, he said his memories of Christmas in Mexico are precious to him.

"It was never important to us to have presents, it was just about being with family, running around with all your cousins all night long, eating my mother's food," he said. "All of December is so beautiful. Guadalajara is a fast-paced city, not like the little villages, and it's the one time every year you leave your door open, let the neighbors and friends come in and catch up on everything that's happened."

Christmas in Mexico isn't so much about presents or a one-day event followed by a jolting credit card bill.

It's weeks of festivities beginning on Dec. 16 with candlelit processions called posadas and candy-filled pinata breakings that symbolize the cleansing of sins. There are all-night family parties and caroling, pig roasts and tamale-making marathons where neighbors wander in and out, sampling and visiting and sipping tequila-spiked punch.

There's Nochebuena, Christmas Eve, and the traditional Misa del Gallo, "Mass of the Rooster," at midnight, commemorated with fireworks and the ringing of bells followed by a big feast at home.

There's more family celebrating through New Year's, all leading up to Jan. 6, the day when most of Mexico and other Spanish-speaking Catholic countries exchange gifts during Los Reyes Magos, the arrival of the Three Kings, and then the hearty Feast of the Epiphany.

Children fill their shoes with sweet grass, as if to feed the wise men's camels. According to the tradition based on a Bible story, the three magi -- Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar -- followed a bright star to Bethlehem and found the child king they sought. There they presented him with gold and gifts.

On that day, considered the last day of Christmas, Catholics from Spain to Mexico gather for the ritual Rosca or Roscon de Reyes, a crown-shaped sweet bread decorated with pieces of orange and lime and filled with nuts, figs and cherries. Often hidden inside the bread is a figurine of baby Jesus, and whoever gets that slice must throw a party Feb. 2.

Some families in the U.S. look forward to the journey all year long.

"All our friends and relatives, everybody wants to come and see you. You spend your days visiting house-to-house," said Juventino Gonzalez, who is heading to La Paz, in Baja California, with his wife, Ricarda. "Then I'll have a party there in the house we still have, just about 50 of us, nothing too big, and we all come together, kill a tender pig and have a big roast and feast."

Mr. Gonzalez, a welder, and his wife, a maid, both with green cards, said staying in Santa Barbara for the holidays in past years has left them depressed, even though many of the Catholic churches go to great lengths to replicate the festivities.

"They don't give it any flavor here," he said, speaking in Spanish. "It makes me sad to stay here, so we never do anymore. Here, at 9 or 10 (p.m.) one of your neighbors has complained to the police and they come to tell you to turn down the music. You can't do anything here. In Mexico, all the neighbors are celebrating with you; they tell you to turn the music up."

Other local Mexican families have so many of their relatives here that making the trip south isn't necessary.

"I feel like we've been able to re-create here a lot of what we grew up with," said Blanca Figueroa Olvera, who came to Santa Barbara as a teenager and has since been joined by most of her siblings and parents. "We're all here now, and we make our own family posadas and play games and make a traditional punch and listen to traditional music and sing.

"Back in Mexico, we would do all the caroling form door to door, put out our boots for the Three Kings and eat the Rosca de Reyes with chocolate. Now, we try to do all of that for my little nieces and nephews here."

This year, Viviana Leija can't make it to visit her parents, siblings and other relatives who live in Mexico City. She's off to Pennsylvania to celebrate Christmas with her boyfriend's family.

"Here, it's the stores that seem to be trying to create the Christmas atmosphere, and it's not that that doesn't exist in Mexico, but there, any gift you give doesn't have to be expensive at all," she said. "Something you make with your own hands is even better."

Ms. Leija is fond of one ritual in particular, the breaking of the pinata -- but not just because of her sweet tooth.

"People don't really get what that signifies, but originally, the pinata was like a big circle with seven peaks, representing the seven deadly sins," she explained. "So they cover your eyes, representing blind faith, and you hit this pinata trying to get past all those sins and get to the happiness and sweets at the center inside. In this way, you have cleansed yourself of your sins.

"It's not that I necessarily believe in all of that, but it's just a nice tradition. Nowadays, some Mexicans don't even know what that tradition means."

Sometimes families are split up at the holidays, because some are able to get off work and others can't. But as parents and grandparents who remain in Mexico get older, making the trip becomes an important homage to the elders, even if spouses get left behind.

"My husband, Salvador, was able to go, needed to go, but it wasn't a good time for me to be off work," said Maria Munoz, who works as a housekeeper in Montecito. "There, we make posole and tamales and invite everyone in to try it. ... In the villages, you just sit on the porch and watch people go by or walk in the plaza and run into friends. There is so much to see. It's so different than here. Here, I get so sad."

RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS
Juventino and Ricarda Gonzalez look through pictures from their past Christmas trips to Mexico. The Santa Barbara couple said remaining in the U.S. for the holidays is depressing, so they're heading south to La Paz in Baja California.