Preservings 11 (1997) - Plett Foundation

intensive work such as apple picking.
The soil in the Swift Plan is red while the
Manitoba Plan has less fertile white soil. Local
farmers are also developing speciality crops
such as chile peppers and beans.
75th Anniversary, 1922-97.
The 75th anniversary celebrations took place
in Cuauhtemoc on August 14, 15 and 16. The
site was 5 miles east of Cuauhtemoc in a municipal
granary with a seating capacity of 6000
people. It was almost full for many of the presentations.
The opening ceremonies included a visit by
the Governor of the State of Chihuahua, C. P.
Francisco Barrio Terrazas, and Senora Terrazas.
In his address to the morning assembly, the
Governor praised the Mennonites for their hard
work, industriousness and model communities.
He stated that “the anniversary celebrations
were an example that when the Mennonites
organized something it was done well.” He
“was proud that the Mennonites had chosen to
settle in the State of Chihuahua” and that they
“have often served as a model and will continue
to be so in the future.”
Later the Governor and his wife, together
with a large entourage enjoyed a traditional
Mennonite meal in the eating hall. Lunch and
supper were served each day for up to 4,000.
The menu included Mexican dishes such as
tacos and chile peppers revealing that cultural
influences work in both directions.
Another well-known guest was Jakob
Giesbrecht, Vorsteher or overseer of Menno
Colony, Paraguay, speaking on behalf of 30,000
Mennonites in his country, mainly of Bergthaler
origin, who emigrated from Manitoba to Paraguay
in 1926. Giesbrecht congratulated his coreligionists
in Cuauhtemoc stating that they
“had been a testimony of spiritual life and a
model of economic progress.”
The event was attended by hundreds of welldressed,
smart-looking young people. The
young men typically wear expensive cowboy
boots, stetsons, and tight jeans. The young
women wear anything from traditional flowerpatterned
long-skirted dresses and kerchiefs,
to Calvin Kleins and modern hair styling. Many
of the young women wearing black head-bonnets
would provide serious competition to Kelly
McGillis, Harrison Ford’s co-star in “The Witness”,
playing the demure but seductively-attractive
Amish widow.
Hundreds of young families, with 2 or 4 and
even more children, spent the day together enjoying
the event. Those interested in familial
values would note the obvious closeness of
these couples as well as extended family units.
Peter Enns Rempel, whose grandfather
came from Blumenort, Manitoba, near Gretna,
spearheaded the organizing committee.
Rempel, himself a large-scale apple grower and
merchant, applied his tremendous energy and
organizational ability to the task, with splendid
results.
The anniversary festivities were well
planned and no detail was omitted. It was one
of the best executed events of this nature I have
No. 11, December, 1997
attended. Each day started with a parade which
included typical horse-drawn vehicles of earlier
times, antique farm equipment as well as
modern machinery. Tours were available and a
history book was published.
One outstanding feature of the anniversary celebrations
was a hour-long video especially produced
for the event, outlining the history of the
Mennonite settlements at Cuauhtemoc. The video,
25
produced by Winnipeg film maker Otto Klassen,
was shown in both Spanish and Low German. It
is also being made available in English.
The 75th anniversary celebrations were a
magnificent success and congratulations are in
order. The event heralds the very substantial
and significant achivements of the Mexican
Mennonites, something which they can and
should be proud of.
Current up-dated map of Mennonite Colonies in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, showing the names and locations of
144 “Strassendorf” street villages situated in 6 major colonies. The settlers brought many of the centuries-old
villages names along with them from Manitoba. The process of transplanting these ancient place names from
one country to another itself is a tradition over 400 years old.