One A Day – 311

How does a procession cross a very busy road? Quickly and watchfully…

The night whistler

• Cuerámaro, Guanajuato, Mexico
• December 11, 2013
• All rights reserved

These two photos need a bit of context. The young ladies carrying the icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe are crossing one of the busiest streets in Cueramaro. Day and night, this street has large, fully-loaded trucks, fast moving ranch pickups and buses rolling at speeds much faster than is ordinary in rural Cueramaro. We all cross that street with care, especially at night.

The young man with the odd looking device on wheels is part of a centuries old tradition that we hear at night in towns all over Mexico. The device he is minding is a steam whistle that gives a long, moaning sound that lets anyone about at night know there is someone in the area – watching over the town’s sleeping citizens. The first time you hear it, you can be forgiven if you find the sound a bit unsettling. I have seen the night whistler in Morelia, and I can tell you the design of their steam whistles is almost exactly the same. Somewhere, there must be a workshop turning out these mobile moaning machines….