Christmas Desert Style

Last night we went to the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens for their Luminairia Night.  The garden is quite a spectacular sight during the day filled with cactus and desert plants, but for these special evenings it is truly magical.
In the southwest of the United States being so close to Mexico we celebrate many of the Mexican traditions, luminairia being one. 

For the most part the paths were only lit with the candles in a sand filled bag.

There were some adobe style structures at the garden, their flat roofs were the perfect place for more lights.

The theme this year was the insect, there were quite a few large wooden bugs scattered through the garden.   To give you an idea of the size, behind this ant is a 10 foot saguaro cactus. (Here in the Sonoran Desert is the only place on earth these huge cactus grow.)

This is a Native American Apache woman dressed in traditional clothes giving a talk about her culture.  She is standing under a wikiup, a traditional shelter used by them, her family built it here at the garden.  If you look you can see some beautiful blankets hanging from the celing, a handmade basket is hanging to the right of her, and to the left is a man, with a large flute.  The music that comes from these types of flutes is hauntingly beautiful.

Some of the paths had decorated trees.

I am sorry for the blurriness of this picture.  But on the way out another Mexican tradition, Mariachis dancing and playing Christmas songs with a Mexican flair. 

Sometimes at Christmas I miss the cold and the snow.  But then I step out someplace like this, and I remember how truly blessed I am to live here in the desert.