As has been the tradition for many decades, just before daybreak on Monday, October 12 the tiny, revered statue of the Virgin of Zapopan will be wheeled out of the Guadalajara Cathedral, placed carefully on an elaborate float and driven very slowly back to her ancestral home in the Zapopan Basilica, preceded by thousands of high-octane ethnic dancers, decked out in colorful indigenous costumes.
But unlike in years past, “La Generala” (to use one of her many nicknames) will take an unfamiliar and slightly longer route back home in this year’s “Romeria.”
With the downtown core currently resembling a World War I battlefield to accommodate the city’s new subway line, Monday’s procession will follow an alternative route from the Cathedral, along Liceo to Juarez, up Vallarta to Americas and the uphill stretch all the way to Zapopan Centro – 2.5 kilometers longer than the usual seven-kilometer stretch.
It’s unlikely many diehard devotees of the Virgin will be put off by the change and Catholic leaders are confident upward of one million souls will forgo their usual sleep quota to support the region’s most eminent religious icon on her journey home.
Many devout Catholics will not go to bed to ensure a front row view of the procession. They will weep, pray and ask the Virgin for favors as she passes by.
Despite the solemnity of the occasion, the day is marked by a good deal of merriment. Hundreds of street food and souvenir vendors line the route and the buzz among the crowd is more akin to a parade than a procession.
To discourage the small minority who stay up all night drinking, a “dry law” is decreed by Zapopan City Hall in the zone of the procession from 6 p.m. on Sunday evening.
The Virgin always brings up the rear of the long procession, escorted by snappily dressed honor guards from numerous Roman Catholic organizations and senior religious officials. Usually lasting between three and four hours, this year’s longer procession could take up to five, or even six, hours.
Once the Virgin is safely returned inside the Zapopan Basilica, and after a Mass, the ethnic dancers will continue their routines in the huge Plaza de las Americas until they literally drop with exhaustion.
Expats and tourists who make the effort to rise in the early hours to witness this unique spectacle will find themselves well rewarded.
Interestingly, October 12 is also Dia de la Raza (Colombus Day) in Latin America, although it garners scant attention in Guadalajara. All eyes are on the Virgin of Zapopan.