Dancing with the Virgin by Deidre Sklar

Based in New Mexico, this book focuses on Sklar’s own experiences while she was submerged in the Mexican culture, and her adaptation to new ways of being in the world. As a Jew from Brooklyn, Sklar’s experiences in a new culture seem out of place at first. She documents the traditions surrounding the fiesta devoted to the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe. This fiesta was originally five to six days long but now goes on for three days, during which people reenact the stories of the Virgin. These reenactments depicted the contradictions and multiple layers of their complex society.
Sklar soon realizes that understanding the traditions and actions of her “host” families do not come from merely studying them extensively. One day as she was kneeling in front of the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, she felt a sudden sense of reverence. Although she was still that Jew from Brooklyn, she began to understand how everyone else felt in this community. In other words, she gained access into their personal understandings of this festival.
Reading this Sklar’s documentation of another country’s festivities was a real eye opener. Her depiction of how the people of New Mexico sediment their memories through one generation to the next, and her observations as someone completely new to the culture made me think about how people from other cultures could view our traditions and festivals in a different way.