Chapala put on an astounding folk dance festival last Sunday that brought together hundreds of performers and a huge crowd of spectators. I can almost guarantee that every one of the 2,000 participating dancers first learned the steps of the Jarabe Tapatio and other classic Mexican dances while rehearsing for Mother’s Day festivals taking place at their kindergartens or elementary schools. 

El Día de las Madres, always celebrated on May 10, is a major national holiday in this country, perhaps second only to the December 12 Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the spiritual mother of most Mexicans.

In fact, historians note that May was selected because it is the month dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the tenth day allows workers sufficient time to gather the resources to purchase gifts for the matriarchs in their lives.

Día de las Madres has been celebrated on that date since 1922, promoted by journalist Rafael Alducin, along with church and government officials, to institutionalize the day and counteract an emerging feminist movement in the state of Yucatan. The holiday was firmly cemented in Mexican culture in 1944 when President Manuel Ávila Camacho laid the cornerstone of the Monument to the Mother in Mexico City.

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