In Chapter Three, the following idea is presented: "There is nothing so joyous as a Mexican fiesta, but there is also nothing so sorrowful. Fiesta night is also a night of mourning" (Chapter 3, page 53). What does that mean?

In the descriptions of the fiesta, Paz also wants to describe emotional heights and depths. "There is nothing so joyous as a Mexican fiesta, but there is also nothing so sorrowful. Fiesta night is also a night of mourning" (Chapter Three, page 53). The fiesta does not discriminate between positive and negative emotions; it encompasses them all. The Mexican opens himself to the world, and that includes both spectra. The fiesta provides him with the liberty to feel emotions that he stifles the rest of the year, and to feel them to their fullest extent. Thus deep sorrow enters the character of the fiesta, and the man mourns.