Courtship..walking around the plaza ( the jardin )

When I stayed in a small town in Coahuila as a young teenager, this was the
highlight of pre-determined evenings. We would all dress up, head towards
the plaza with the elders and begin walking (in one direction), while the guys
walked in another direction. The elders sat in the peripherals of the plaza,
catching up on gossip, politics, while keeping a watchful eye on all of us.

The funny part of this tradition was I remember a really cute guy had
"ojitos" for me, and when we returned back home, I was excited, like every 15 year
old would be. But then, my aunts promptly told that he was a 2nd cousin -
and therefore it was totally unacceptable to give "ojitos" back. In reality,
everyone was related to me - so this tradition was not very productive for my
cousins....

I guess that is why there were "fiestas", to encourage other towns to visit
your town and to participate in these rituals and get the blood lines
somewhat mixed.....that is how many of my cousins all met their spouses.