Faith and Rituals: Mexico

Recently, I took a long-overdue sun vacation in western Mexico, in the touristy-but-still-an-actual-town of Sayulita. Naturally I took my camera(s), but I didn’t think they would see anything more than a few obligatory sunset over the ocean waves scenes.

Now, I was hesitant to mention this trip at all because I aspire to much more than “here’s my holiday snaps”. But, as happens so often when you put yourself out there (or over there, in this case), wonderful and unexpected things happen. And those moments are when you most need a camera with you to feel and see it most deeply.

The end of the year brings the Christmas season, and Mexico is a deeply spiritual as well as a very vibrant and dynamic country. By complete chance, I was blessed to see a few passing scenes that felt very much at home with my long-running personal project on faith and ritual. Kicking off with a raucous Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the town square, followed shortly after by the most charming Santa Claus Parade I ever photographed (and I have photographed a lot after 20+ years of newspaper photography work) and culminating with a reverent Christmas Eve Mass, it felt like I was given far more than I could have even scripted. But isn’t that the best of what travel can give? The reality of life is that you can’t predict or control what happens, and the best of photographers (or writers, or musicians, or…) understand that. I’m not saying I do, but I do know I got a glimpse of that idea.

As the photos in this post show, there was a lot more than the events I mentioned above. And as dazzled and enamoured as I am with Mexico and its people, I know that I barely gathered a drop of the ocean of history, art, culture and depth of this wonderful country that my home in Canada shares this continent with.

A raucous celebration for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Sayulita, Mexico. Guadalupe is a central symbol for Mexico, and the Feast ritual celebrates the sighting of the Virgin Mary to a man in the 16th century.

Children from local schools take part in the annual Santa Claus Parade in the town square of Sayulita.

A boy gets his wings in preparation for a children’s procession at the Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, in Sayulita.

Children’s procession, main plaza in Sayulita, Mexico.

A church volunteer opens the windows of Sayulita’s Catholic Church for another day.

The piñata is a common Christmas fun activity for children in Mexico, here seen in front of the town’s Catholic Church located in the main plaza.

A woman holds the doll of the Christ Child, to be placed in the Nativity scene of the Catholic Church during a Christmas Eve mass.

A hawker carrying souvenirs to offer to tourists on the nearby Playa de los Muertos (beach) walks along a path through a cemetery along the oceanfront in Sayulita. Mexico is renowned for its annual Day of the Dead, which exemplifies the country’s unique approach to death and recognizing its place in life.

An Easter rebirth

This has been posted here before, but several years ago I started a project about faith rituals - I was just interested in how across all different kinds of cultures, religions, time periods and geographic areas people somehow felt the need to perform various rituals and actions as an expression of faith.
I photographed more variety than I thought possible in a mid-sized Canadian city, but the past year or so it’s been dormant.

Fittingly, in the season of Easter a rebirth of sorts occurred with 2 events connected to the Christian holiday. The festival of Salubong, a procession of religious statues held by the local Filipino community, was held on Easter Sunday morning and the 35th annual Way of the Cross procession was held by the local Catholic archdiocese on the morning of Good Friday.
Salubong was especially gratifying to photograph, as it was the first ritual I photographed in 2018 when I first conceived of this project.

From now, I hope to continue where I left off with this project and pursue other rituals in a variety of faiths. I’m as interested in the regular commonly held ritual - aspects of the everyday like a Christian baptism or candles in a Hindu puja or prayers in a Jewish or Muslim service - as I am in special events or rarer holidays.
If you have a suggestion for this project, please use the Contact form on my website to send me an email, or message me via my Instagram account if you prefer.

A congregant at St. Edwards the Confessor Catholic Church takes part in a procession early Sunday morning as part of the church’s Salubong event.

The sunrise shines over the cross marched on a procession in the 35th annual Way of the Cross Event, Friday morning at the University of Manitoba campus.

Hundreds of people walk quietly in the Way of the Cross event, on Good Friday morning, the only sound moving over the crowd a repeated prayer chant.

The cool twilight of the early Easter morning is punctuated by the warmth of a candle held by an adult chaperoning a children's choir in the city’s North End during the Salubong event.

Canada geese waddle away from a procession of hundreds quietly marching behind a wooden cross on Good Friday.

One of the stations of the cross marks a pause in the 35th annual Way of the Cross, Good Friday morning.

A children’s choir ascends the steps of St. Edwards the Confessor church on Easter Sunday morning.

Salubong event, Easter Sunday morning.

Salubong procession, Easter Sunday morning.

Eid al Fitr, in photographs

The festival of Eid (or Eid al Fitr) is a joyous occasion in Muslim cultures. It marks the end of a month of fasting and introspection during the period of Ramadan, which is a time of reflecting on the blessings one has and to give to charity. In fact, some Christians may see some parallels between Lent and Ramadan, and Eid and Easter.
Here in Winnipeg, Eid is perhaps most notably marked by a large gathering at the downtown Convention Centre and I was fortunate enough to observe this year’s event at the beginning of June.

Held in a spectacular upstairs room fronted by a floor-to-ceiling window, the cavernous space was bathed in light, and the relatively-small figures of the faithful traced long dark shadows as they walked through the early morning sunlight.
It was hard not to see and feel some spiritual metaphors in a diverse group of people coming together in a brilliant, open space. I was free to discreetly walk about, trying to record the feeling and essence of this upbeat gathering. It was a wonderful time to be a photographer.

My thanks to the Manitoba Islamic Association for their help and of course friends Nilufer Rahman and Dr. Rehman Absulrehman!

The first image made when I arrived - surely a good omen for the day’s photography!

I don’t like using long lenses, much preferring a ‘normal’ or slight wide angle lens. I want my images to subtly help the viewer feel as though they were in the middle of what was happening. It also requires me to interact with subjects, and be mindful of how I affect them and the overall scene.

I could write pages about the glorious light on the morning of this event. It was a sensory feast, with beautiful light and shadow, a dazzling array of clothing and peoples, the fascinating sounds of prayer and the warmth of truly sincere smiles and friendliness.

How to find one face, one person, in a crowd that tells the overall story of so many others? That’s the job of a photojournalist and a photographer.

“I’ve Got Goals”…great shirt, kid.

I’d held my camera above my head, in order to get the right perspective on people leaving the event after its conclusion. I liked the lines and overall visual pattern. I didn’t realize until I got home to edit the images hours later that this woman gave a special shout-out to me! Whoever you are, thanks!

The colours and sheer visual parade was fantastic for a photographer. This dress immediately caught my eye.