Ajijic’s unbridled salute to spiritual patron Saint Andrew the Apostle blasts off Tuesday, November 21, continuing on a festive roll through the first weekend of December.
The fiestas patronales encompass both traditional religious activities scheduled by the San Andrés parish church and the boisterous secular celebration centered at the village plaza. The festivities are customarily punctuated by heavy rounds of fireworks set off at all hours and fueled by heavy consumption of liquid spirits.
The prelude to the novenario (nine-day celebration) is a picturesque religious parade held on November 21. The line-up of carros alegoricos (scenic floats) depicting sacred themes, ritual dancers, marching musicians and faithful pilgrims depart from the back entrance of the church on Calle Galeana around 5 p.m., following a winding route around the town that may be traced by listening out for booming sky rockets ignited along the way.
Observances formally established in the church calendar begin on November 22, coincidentally falling on the Feast of Santa Cecilia, patroness of musicians. Thus, the festivities initiate at daybreak as musical combos roam the streets to blare out a festive door-to-door wakeup call.
From that day forward through November 30, members of the gremios (worker guilds) sponsoring activities on a particular date will gather at dusk to lead a candlelight procession that travels along Calle Hidalgo from Seis Esquinas to the entrance of the San Andres church as the lead-in to the 7 p.m. celebration of the Mass.
The spiritual celebration provides a framework for continuous communal revelry. Following the evening church service, throngs congregate at the plaza to socialize, chow down typical snacks, fuel up on firewater and dance to the beat of live bands. Youngsters get their kicks from swirling on mechanical rides, trying their luck at games of chance and pelting one another with cascarones (confetti-filled egg shells).
Capping off each night is a dazzling fireworks display centered around the Castillo – a whirling, sputtering ensemble of pyrotechnic devices strung up on an intricate wood and bamboo tower that is lit up in the church atrium between 10:30 and 11 p.m.
The fiesta calendar also wraps in los toros – the informal bull-riding contests relished by the party–hard crowd for concomitant live banda music for dancing and prodigious imbibing, held most afternoons at the local lienzo charro arena, starting around 4 p.m.
The celebration also draws itinerant street vendors who set up shop in the vicinity of the plaza to hawk a wide array of merchandise.