The start of 2023 saw several public buildings and monuments in Guadalajara lit up in blue and yellow; not, in this case, in support of Ukraine, but to kick off a 12-month celebration of the bicentennial of the foundation of Jalisco.
The bicentennial will come together under the slogan “Somos Jalisco, 200 Años Libres y Soberanos” (We are Jalisco, 200 Years Free and Sovereign).
According to a state government press release, the celebration will “recount and honor the historical events that gave rise to our state and its capital, as well as the federalist and independent political system we adhere to.” The Jalisco government has called on all 125 municipalities in the state to join in the festivities.
The celebrations will reach their peak in June to mark the day (the 16th) in 1823 when members of the Board of the Provincial Council of Guadalajara (the institution that was in charge of the autonomous administration of the province of Guadalajara) met in an extraordinary session to declare the creation of the “Free State of Xalisco”*—the first to be established in Mexico.
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said he intends to send a proposal to the state legislature to declare this day a permanent state holiday. In addition, he wants the name of the Solidarity Park on the eastern side of the Guadalajara metropolitan area changed to Parque Luis Quintanar, after the soldier and politician who was instrumental in the creation of Jalisco.
*The “X”—derived from the Nahuatl, meaning “over a sandy surface”—was used until 1836, when it was substituted for the Spanish “J”.