A Social Engagement

Alejandro used to belong to a group of mountain climbers.  Although he hasn't climbed any mountains in quite a few years, he has remained good friends with the others in the group.  I have met some of them on past trips at get-togethers.  On Saturday we were invited to the baptism of the son of one of the members of the group.

The baptism was held at 1:00 in the afternoon in a church at the far western edge of the metropolitan area in a municipality called Atizapán.  We left from Alejandro's house at noon, but it took us more than an hour to get there.  The service had already begun, but we arrived before the actual baptism.

The parish church is a small, modern building.  It is named after San Fernando, a 13th century king of the Spanish kingdom of Castile.

After the ceremony, it is an old Mexican custom (one of which I had not heard of before) to throw coins to the children.  They scramble to gather up the money.

After the baptism there was a reception at a nearby party center.  A nice dinner was served.  In traditional Mexican fashion, there were three courses... first came a soup, followed by a pasta dish, and then the main course.  We had chicken breast in tamarind sauce.

Each guest received a very nice memento of the occasion... a cross made of Talavera ceramic with the baby's name.

We had a very nice time, but we had to leave before the party broke up.  We had another invitation to attend that day!