Octavio "Tito" Meza hugs his Aunt (Tia) Manuella Meza

El día de las madres se celebra en México el 10 de Mayo de cada año. Ese día es uno de los días mas importantes del año en el pueblo. Muchos de los hijos ausentes hacen su visita al pueblo en esta fecha tan especial para ver a sus madrecitas.

Los recuerdos que yo tengo de ese día son los siguientes: El día 9 y 10 de Mayo se veian desde temprano a los vendedores de flores y el aroma a claveles llenaba la plaza de portal a portal. Mientras comprabamos las flores disfrutabamos de las pitayas y de los mangos verdes con chile y limón.
Los negociantes vendían esos días mas trastes (vasos, tazas, platos o vajillas) que todo el el resto del año. Alguno de ustedes posiblemente recuerda que al pasar por las tiendas de Don Cuco, Juanito Moreno,

Cande's son, Irma, Imelda, Cande and Maria seranade one of the mothers with a song and guitar.

Arias, Sabas o la del Güero Lopez se podía ver regalos de todos precios, pero los mas populares por mas economicos eran los trastes. ¿Quién no le llego a regalar a su mamá vasos floreados, o platos o una jarra con vasos, o una vajilla completa? O tal vez le llegaron a regalar jabones de olor. ¿Cuántas veces no hubieramos querido comprarle a la madre una lavadora para que no trabajara tanto, una estufa, o cualquier otro regalo que le aminorara el trabajo del hogar? Pero eran unos pocos los que se podían dar ese lujo y la mayoria nos teniamos que conformar con regalarle trastes. Pero era un gusto comprar ese regalo por mas sencillo que fuera. Se

Jorge and Tito standby ready with flowers for their mothers.

pasaba uno pegado a la vitrina (sin tocarla porque te regañaban), apreciando los regalos envueltos en papel celofan, por horas imaginando si pudiera uno comprar el regalo mas grande para ella. ¡Con que gusto ahorraba uno!

Pero el regalo mas importante llegaba en la madrugada del 10 de Mayo: "La serenata a las Madres", mejor conocidas como "Las mañanitas a la Madre". Nuestro grupo de amigas y amigos, como muchos otros grupos se reunian en la plaza principal a las 11:30 p.m. del 9 de mayo a practicar las mañanitas y otras canciones para honrar a la madres tales como: Madrecita Querida, Tres Regalos, Jilguero, Página Blanca, Maria Elena, Amar y Querer

entre otras. Nuestro grupo practicaba desde un mes antes y era muy afortunado porque llevaba varias personas que tocaban diferentes instrumentos. Raquel Ambrocio, Cande Haro y Maria Luisa Meza tocaban la guitarra y Cornelio Haro podía tocar todo tipo de instrumentos, desde el acordión hasta el saxofón. Habia algunas personas que si no sabian tocar la guitarra y querian llevar mañanitas contrataban mariachis o usaban alguna grabadora con baterias para la serenata. Muchos llegaban de Estados Unidos de sorpresa a llevar serenata a sus madrecitas, lo cual hacia felices y orgullosas a muchas madres en el pueblo.

Al dar las doce de medía noche, con los primeros minutos de el 10 de Mayo, partiamos de la plaza a cantar a cada una de nuestras casas las mañanitas y a tratar de sorprender a nuestras madres cuando aun estaban dormidas. Los acordes de las guitarras, los mariachis las grabadoras y voces llenas de amor se escuchaban por todo el pueblo para celebrar al ser mas querido de la tierra: "La madre". Lo mejor de la noche para nuestros desvelados ojos y cansadas gargantas, era ver las expresiones en las caras de las madres al abrir la ventana o la puerta. No habia emoción que se pudiera comparar con esos abrazos entre hijos y madres. Había besos y muchas lagrimas. Para agradecernos las mañanitas, nuestras

Maria seranades againa. It's way past her bed time and she looks very tired.

madres nos ofrecian café de olla con canela y piquete, rompope, canela, ponche de frutas, calientitos, tequila, brandy, atole, galletas o hasta comida. La música sonaba toda la noche, porque si habia tiempo, llevabamos serenata a la tia, a la abuela, a la maestra y hasta a la suegra. Los últimos acordes se perdían con la salida del sol y la urgencia de que no nos ganaran los churros y los chocomiles. Pero el festejo no terminaba ahí, todo mundo honraba a la madre ese día: las escuelas con festivales, y trabajos manuales que los niños presentaban a sus mamás, todo el día por la radio se escuchaban programas de música dedicados a las madres por los hijos ausentes, especialmente en la estación de el Grullo y la canción mas escuchada ese día era "Madrecita Querida" de Gerardo Reyes. Había fiesta en casi todas las casas o por lo menos se hacia una comida especial y por las tardes se iba a la plaza de toros donde había música, bailables y rifas en honor a las madrecitas del pueblo.

Me comentan que en los ultimos años ya no se oyen las guitarras y los mariachis como antaño y que las serenatas son mas informales. Ahora se lleva serenata con el estereo de la camioneta o el carro. Si ustedes son de los afortunados que aún tienen a su madre con vida, ojalá que puedan visitar el pueblo el próximo 10 de mayo, y porque no aprovechar la oportunidad para llevarle serenata y revivir ésta tradición que a muchas madres les ha traido tanta alegria.

MOTHER'S DAY (ENGLISH)

Mother's Day in Mexico is celebrated on the 10th of May, no matter what day of the week this may fall on. This is one of the most important days in our hometown. Those sons and daughters who are away from Union De Tula pay a visit to their mothers on this very special day.

Everyone is in a festive mood as they travel house to house throughout the night.

The memories I have from Mother's Day are as follows: On the 9th and 10th of May very early in the morning you could see various vendors setting up booths of flowers on both sides of the plaza. On mothers day, you could smell the aroma of fresh carnations from flowers being sold on the other end of the plaza. As we picked the flowers, we would stop at other booths to buy and enjoy pitayas and green mangos seasoned with chile y lime.

Stores on mother's day sold more place settings (glasses, cups, plates and plate sets) than any other day of the year. Some of you may recall shopping for your Mother's gift as you passed by the various stores of Don Cuco's, Juanito Moreno's, Arias', Sabas' o el Güero Lopez'.

You could see varios gifts of different prices, but the most popular were without a doubt, the separate dish set (because they were more affordable). We did not give complete sets, but smaller affordable pieces. Do you remember giving your mother glasses, plates, or perhaps a jar with matching glasses or sometimes a plate set all with various and unique designs? Or maybe you simply gave her scented shower soap? How many times did we wish we could afford a washing machine so Mom would not have to work so hard? Did you ever dream of giving her a stove or any other major appliance that would reduce the physical hard work that our mothers had to endure day after day? There were only a few who could afford such gifts, but the majority of us bought the simplest gifts. To us it was such an honor and pride to have the ability to give them a gift...any gift. I remember window shopping and appreciating the wrapping paper and decoration. In fact, some of us got "too close" to the windows and accidently left lip marks. Merchants had to tell us to leave when we crowded the windows with our lip marks. I remember dreaming about buying my Mom the biggest, most expensive present. We gladly saved our pesos for a mothers day present.

Gangs of youth climb into cars and parade the street house to house.

The greatest gift, however, came to mothers in the early hours of the 10th of May "Mother's day". The gift would come in the form of a "serenade" or better known as "Las mañanitas a la Madre". "La Palomilla" (our group of friends) as well as other groups met at the center of the town, "La Plaza" at approximately 11:30PM on May 9th to rehearse the typical song "Las Mañanitas" as well as other songs to honor our mothers: e.i.

• Madrecita Querida,
• Tres Regalos,
• Jilguero,
• ágina Blanca,
• María Elena,
• Amar y Querer
• and other songs.

Our group got together to rehearse at least one month in advance of mothers day. We were fortunate to have several members who played instruments. Raquel Ambrocio, Cande Haro y Maria Luisa Meza played the guitar while Cornelio Haro played various instruments, he would play acordeon, saxofon, etc. depending on the song. Others who did not have instruments or did not know how to play any instruments hired mariachi bands or used cassette players to serenade their mothers. Those away in the United States would come to Union de Tula without notice and surprise their mothers by serenading them. This made mothers happy and proud of their children.

Right after midnight on May 10th, we left the main square area to our specific houses to surprise our mothers and to sing for them while they were asleep. The guitars strum, the mariachis play and sing, the cassette players blast music and of course our voices full of love and affection could be heard throughout the town in celebration and honor of the most loved human being, "Mom".

After the mothers are serenaded, for many, the party continues all night long.

The best part of the night as we became tired, our eyes sleepy and our throats sore, was to see our mothers' facial expressions as they opened their window or the door. There was no other emotion that compared to a hug between Mother and son or daughter, there were kisses and there were tears.

In return our mothers welcomed us with specially brewed coffee, cinnamon drinks, rompope (alcoholic nut meg) and warm alcoholic fruit punch (the best), tequila, brandy, atole, cookies and sometimes with a full course meal. Music could be heard all night throughout the town and if time permitted, we would also serenade our aunts, grandmas, teachers and sometimes even the mother-in-law. You could hear guitars strums until dawn, because dawn meant run to the Mercado before they run out of churros and milkshakes.

But wait, the fiestas were not over just yet, everyone honored Moms in La Union; schools held festivals in which children presented hand crafts to their mothers. Radio stations honored mothers all day long and those sons and daughters who could not personally make it to the town, bought time at the local radio station in el Grullo, Jalisco and dedicated special songs such

Not everyone is happy to be woken up in the middle of the night.

as "Madrecita Querida" by Gerardo Reyes. There were festivities everywhere, mothers were honored with a special meal at home and later in the evening everyone met at the bull fighting ring where the celebration continued with more music, folklorico dancing, and raffles.

I understand in talking to people who now reside in Union de Tula, that now a days the old type of serenading, guitars and mariachis are not as common and now the celebrations are more informal. For instance, music is now played in cars and trucks. If you are fortunate enough to have your mother alive, I hope you can visit Union De Tula next 10 de Mayo and take advantage to serenade your mom and relive this special tradition that brought so much joy to many mothers in Union De Tula.