Ajijic’s month-long devotions honoring Our Lady of the Rosary come to an end on Tuesday, October 31 with a major village fiesta.
Although the liturgical calendar marks October 7 as the feast day of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, the faithful of Ajijic are accustomed to paying homage during the entire month. Each day residents of different barrios rise before dawn for candlelight processions to the San Andrés parish for a morning rosary service.
The cycle ends on October 31, with a huge procession winding around the town from about 5 p.m., ending at the San Andrés parish for mass, followed by an evening of festivities at the plaza.
The tradition derives from popular wisdom that the Virgin Mary is the town’s spiritual founder. Franciscan missionaries who settled in the area around 1530 dedicated a shrine to the Virgin somewhere between Ajijic and San Juan Cosalá, and later built a thatched roof adobe chapel likewise dedicated to the Virgin as the first local house of Christian worship. The structure was replaced in the early 18th century by La Capilla del Rosario, the small stone chapel still standing at the northwest edge of the plaza, pre-dating the construction of the parish church.
The chapel has been closed for more than two years after severe structural damages were detected. The antique statue of the Virgin of the Rosary has been in temporary residence at San Andrés ever since. With a prolonged chapel restoration project nearly complete, local volunteers have been scrambling to finish the work in time for the beloved figure to return home to cap off the fiesta.