The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 71, July 1967 - April, 1968 Page: 569
686 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Notes and Documents
races and cockfights." Perhaps the ". .. permanent company of Mexi-
can mountebanks . . ." performed. The tamale vendor [Plate io]
hovered around wherever a crowd gathered."
On September 16 the Mexicans celebrated la Dia de Independencia."
Then on December 12 the Virgin of Guadalupe received homage.
Twelve young girls in spotless white, bore a platform on which stood
a figure representing the saint very richly and gorgeously dressed. First
came the priests in procession, then the twelve girls bearing the platform,
and carrying each in her free hand a lighted wax candle, then came
fiddlers behind them playing on their violins, and following the fiddlers
the devout population, generally, firing off guns and pistols and showing
their devotion in various ways. They proceeded through the squares and
some of the principal streets, and every now and then they all knelt and
repeated a short prayer-an "Ave Marie" or "Pater Noster." Finally the
procession stopped at the Cathedral of San Fernando on the Main Plaza,
where a long ceremony was had. Afterwards the more prominent families
taking the Patroness along with them, adjourned to Mr. Jos6 Flores'
house on west side of Military Plaza, where they danced most of the night."
Later in December were Las Posadas and Los Pastores. There was
a celebration each night during the nine day season commemorating
the wandering of the Holy Family. During this period lanterns hung
above the house doors to light the Family on its way." Father An-
tonio Margil, the founder of San Jos6 Mission, brought the medieval
miracle play Los Pastores to San Antonio from Mexico, where the
Spanish introduced it in 1519."7
Other pleasures, not so innocent, provided impromptu entertain-
ment, especially as the Civil War approached. One of these events cre-
ated a great deal of excitement. It was the hanging of Bob Augustine
[Plate 11]. He was a tall, handsome man, almost dandified in appear-
ance. On his head he wore a beautifully decorated Mexican sombrero
over his long shoulder-length black hair. His spotless white ruffled
shirt effectively contrasted with the red silk scarf worn around his
neck. Highly polished boots stitched on the sides with a red star
encased his small horseman's feet. After being acquitted for a drunken
escapade involving the Mexicans across San Pedro Creek, the vigil-
22Pearson Newcomb, The Alamo City (San Antonio, g926), 52.
3Olmstead, Journey Through Texas, 159.
24Maverick Memoirs, 53.
"Ibid., 53-54; Julia Nott Waugh, The Silver Cradle (Austin, 1955), 21.
2Ibid., 24-34; Newcomb, The Alamo City, 58-59.
27Ibid., 57-58; Waugh, The Silver Cradle, 46-48.569
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 71, July 1967 - April, 1968, periodical, 1968; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117145/m1/635/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.