Ajijic’s fiestas patronales come into all their glory on November 30, the Feast of Saint Andrew. In keeping with local custom, the last day of the nine-day celebration is sponsored by los hijos ausentes, the village’s absent sons and daughters who have settled in other parts of Mexico and beyond its borders.

Never mind that this year’s festivities have been stretched out several days on either end of the traditional dates set according to the church calendar. The final blowout for San Andrés takes place on November 30 and hijos ausentes coming from near and far show up in force.

Others restrained by finances or immigration status will be here in spirit, contributing hard earned wages to help cover the costs for  the day’s religious services, fireworks and music as offerings to the patron saint.

The list of this year’s fiesta patrons includes extended families residing in Mexico City, California, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada and Oregon.   

The elders who return home for the occasion relish the opportunity to reconnect with family and childhood friends. They are often accompanied by children and grandchildren who have grown up in foreign lands and come to ties bond with their relatives and cultural roots.

One can only imagine the reactions of those who grew up here in face of the radical changes of village life that have transpired in their absence. Gone are the most of the rustic country fields where their forefather sowed corn, beans, squash and chiles. The same for the vast spaces of mountain hillsides where they spent childhood years roaming free to collect wild fruits and graze the clan’s livestock cattle.

The once familiar landscapes have been transformed by urban sprawl, filled with dozens of residential complexes occupied by thousands of foreigners attracted by the area’s mild climate, reasonable cost of living, laid-back atmosphere and friendly native populace.

In chatting with visiting ausentes, I’ve never detected a sense of resentment towards the foreign hoard that has invaded their home territory. They are innately inclined to show kindness towards strangers, a fine human quality that certainly goes back as far as the Spanish conquest. Besides that, they are busy and happy reengaging with the community, being in the here and now with the kind of exuberance that Latinos tend to do best. But somehow the heady mixture of memory and unfettered celebration it is bound to be the formula for a sentimental journey.

In curious contrast to most native-born people in the United States who are accustomed to picking up roots and relocating to new places, the local people who migrate abroad don’t ever lose that feeling of belonging here, even if they obtain foreign citizenship.

Identification with the homeland runs strong through time and generations. It is the magnet that brings the hijos ausentes back year after year to live it up for a few days in comforting surroundings where they are welcomed with open arms. May they party hard. ¡Bienvenidos!