March 9, 2020 - 178 - "The Bells of San Miguel de Allende"

     Michael and I were walking out of the main market one day, trailing behind a group of college age American kids.  They were earnestly discussing the logic behind the bells in San Miguel.  Michael pipes up and shares:  "I've been coming here for 20 years and I still have no idea what they mean."

     The kids laughed and went on their way.  

     I reflect on that little encounter a lot.  It was a funny moment because it was so true. An indicator of one of the many mysteries of San Miguel.

     When Michael's brother was visiting I told him it's cool that we're so close to so many churches, but the bells are not loud.  But the next morning as they rang and rang (and rang)  away, right outside Andy's window, I thought:  Huh.  Maybe I'm just used to them.

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The clock tower to the left of Parroquia typically makes
some sense...still, the bell ringers aren't alway exactly on
time for each ringing session.

     There is an on-going and decipherable logic to the chimes of only one of the bell towers, as far as I can tell.  It's the one next to La Parroquia to the East.  It's at the end of the street called Reloj (or sometimes Relox), which means 'clock'.  

     This tower has a large bell and it chimes the hour, and there's a small bell that denotes the quarter hour with a quick, higher pitched clang-clang.  Two for 15 past, 4 for half past, 6 for quarter 'til, and 8 for the hour.  So 1:30 is one deep bell sound, followed by four quick higher bells chimes.  Since in Spanish the :45 is indicated by the hour minus a quarter, 1:45 would be indicated with 2 deep chimes followed by 6 higher-pitched bellss.  (2 o'clock minus the quarter-hour.)

     Even this one was a little confusing because I didn't understand why they moved to the next hour...before it got here.  (By gringa thinking.). But, compared to the rest of the bells around town, this may as well be the Shepherd Gate Clock at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

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     The rest of the bells signal a multitude of things, most of which even locals don't understand.  Ask a local about any particular series of bells and you will usually get a smile and a shrug.  I'm told there are more than 270 churches and chapels throughout San Miguel.  Each of these has at least one bell.  Most have many bells.

Close up of the rolling bells on La Parroquia

Men operating the rolling bells of La Parroquia...several stories
up.  

    We used to live on the same street as one of the oldest churches in San Miguel.  It had only one bell and was rung often by one of the local men.  It usually seemed to indicate that mass was about to start.  It would start with a couple of clanks.  (It wasn't a very large, nor a particularly resonant bell.).   


     The first bell seemed to say:  Okay.  Get up...mass will start in about 15 minutes.  
About five minutes later, it would ring again...a few more times, and a little louder, as if to say:  Seriously.  You need to be walking here right now.  A few more minutes would pass and the bell ringer would go crazy with the thing:  "Get over here now, or you're definitely going to hell."   

      (I might be reading between the chimes a bit.)

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     Sometimes one church will start, then you'll hear another take over, then another one down the way...and it will spread across the city until all the bells seem to be ringing at once.  

      This usually happens on major saints days, like Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico.  But, then again, sometimes it seems to happen because it's, I don't know:  Wednesday.

     Occasionally you'll hear a slow, somber, tolling of a bell to indicate one of the members of the church has died.   

     I read that some people know from the way the bells are tolling if someone's gotten married, or if a festival is starting.  

     The bells announce so many different things that it's hard to discern the cause of any particular frenzy of bells.  

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      We're still fairly in the dark.  

     Mostly we just enjoy the heck out of them.  It feels like we're in the middle of some town in Italy or France.  The whys and wherefores of local activity don't really matter to us.  The mystery just adds more charm to the moment.

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Here's a link to a cool video of men ringing the rolling bells of La Parroquia.
It appears to me that they risk, constantly, plummeting to their deaths if they misjudge the speed or distance they are away from the bells...but it sounds pretty.
https://youtu.be/mV6zmzuNzWE

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"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."

-Henry Miller

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"For I am involved in mankind.  

Therefore, send not to know. 

For whom the bell tolls,  

It tolls for thee."  

-John Donne

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"Keeping time, time, time,  

In a sort of Runic rhyme,  

To the paean of the bells-  

Of the bells, bells, bells"

-Edgar Allen Poe

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