We textile artists have our very own Saint his name is  Saint Homobonus  and there is a statue dedicated to  him in Cholula Mexico and of course we had to make a pilgrimage to visit him today. He is closeted in the Pyramid of Cholula and Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Church.

Of course, once hearing about him we needed to investigate specially as it was just a short ride out to the church site from Puebla.  I love this photo of a family  also going to the church.

The city of Cholula is located just west of the state capital of Puebla and is part of its metropolitan area. The city is divided into two municipalities, called San Pedro Cholula and San Andrés Cholula, which also include a number of smaller communities that surround the city proper. The main plaza of the city is located in the municipality of San Pedro Cholula, but the Great Pyramid, located only a few blocks away, is located in San Andrés Cholula.

The first church built between around 1666. It has suffered damage on various occasions from lightning strikes and from earthquakes. Before the Spanish, the pyramid was considered to be sacred to a female rain deity called Chiconahuiquiahuita (Nine Rains). She was accredited with striking the new church with lightning and supposedly a stone image of her was found at the site the church is now. But we wanted to visit Saint Homobonus and there he was with his sewing machine and scissors, rulers, needles and other sewing tools.

To get to the church you need to walk up the side of the pyramid which is quite a significant climb. We followed the folk who were in the truck in front of us.

Several children about six and eight were struggling with the contents of their stall, so we began to help then pull it up to the top. Eduardo finally took the lead.

The view from the top was wonderful.  The entire city was laid out in front of us.

I decided not to buy any of the roasted bugs on offer, I’ve tasted them before, but that was  enough of an experience, the crunchy bits got stuck in my teeth, it’s not pleasant.

We passed vendors selling everything from baskets to food items and its just fascinating to see the vast array of handmade items for sale.

Another steep climb and we were at the top of the pyramid and at the base of the church.

You can see for miles and as it was Palm Sunday we could here the preparations for the noon processions. Houses are garlanded in purple, the symbol of sorrow and fire works that sound like a gun shot pierce the air with regularity. Its a little off putting at times, but you get used to it eventually.

The bells rang out reminding everyone of the impending event of the day. The colors of the steeple and the yellow church glowed in the sun and tourists and parishioners alike took in the magical ambience. A woman and her children sitting on the steps of the church was weaving intricate images of Jesus on the cross with bright green grass fronds. She did it so fast and so deftly and it was fascinating to watch the progress.

I bought a few things…  on the way down the steep hill.

A Malachite and Mexican Jade pendant for gifts and although I’m not religious I felt I needed to buy a small card with the image of out Textile Saint on the front. I’m sure he will enjoy the resting place of my studio and that of my buddy Lisa.

At the bottom of the hill a small market was set up selling everything from embroideries to the biggest strawberries I’ve seen and mango dipped in Chilli powder…. Ouch.

Of course we headed for the embroidery booths. The women were working on their projects for sale and I thought I should buy some to add to my Universal embroidery collection, but also because I would like to experiment with some of the images in EQ7 the  quilting design program for the computer.

The small pieces were just $1.50 each and the large piece with is about 12″ X 8″ was about $9

I resisted the chill Mango though.

We purchased home made ice creams from another vendor and then it was time to go. But just as we were about to get into the car we looked up to find this scene.

Men, and a woman, spiraling downward from a long rope, to the beat of a distant drum and the horn  blown by one of the participants. I couldn’t believe my eyes as one of the young men, disentangled himself from the ropes and sat down, taking out his cross stitch and sitting quietly, following the pattern and stitching with great concentration.

time to travel and this was our route.