Cinco De Mayo
By David Garcia
Cinco de Mayo is not until well, the 5th of May but Shafter decided to celebrate it a little early, a week early to be exact.
The celebration was a parade that then converts in to a carnival in Mannel Park in Shafter. The parade is to basically celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but this year it was a week early! The parade usually last about 2 hours but the whole event of the day, from the parade to the carnival last from 10 AM to 8 PM. There are all kinds of performers in the parade, ranging from little league softball, to low rider cars, trucks, dancers, horses, to one of the highlights of the parade, The Chinelos.
The Chinelos are people from Morelos Mexico dressed in costumes to disguise themselves because of an old tradition. The tradition started when the Spanish were conquering Mexico and the people wanted to show that they were not going to be confined. They decided to throw on a suit made by themselves and mask to hide their face and started jumping around to music and that’s how El Brinco de Los Chinelos started. Since then in a lot of parades that people from Morelos are attending they will most likely bring out their suits and jump around.
Over the passed three years The Chinelos have performed in the Shafter parade and each of those years we have won 1st place. People just love the designs of the costumes, the dancing, and the music. Hope the Chinelos are somewhere around in the next parade you attend because you will enjoy it!