Jocotepec will fall into the grip of two straight weeks of unbridled festivity starting next Monday as the townspeople renew their devotion to spiritual patron El Señor del Monte (The Lord of the Mount).
The celebration changes dates from year to year so that final day invariably falls on third Sunday in January. It begins this time on Monday, January 7 with the solemn Juramento, a collective renovation of vows of faith dedicated to the Crucified Christ as represented by the figure of the Señor del Monte. Devotion stems from answered prayers following lethal outbreaks of cholera that hit the town in 1833 and 1850, and the Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918.
Most days of the fiestas patronales are marked by colorful pilgrim marches around town held at 6 p.m., except for January 10 when it starts at 10 a.m., and the last day when the sacred patron is lowered from the altar at 4 p.m. for a huge procession that draws almost everyone in town as well as hundreds of outsiders.
Night time brings out the secular side of the celebration as throngs head to the main plaza for live music and mechanical rides or wander through the bustling street fair wrapped around at the center of town.