San Juan Diego Parade

We heard a commotion that sounded like the steady rhythm of a washer machine, but it kept growing in intensity. Once I heard brass instruments like tubas I knew this was no run-away washer machine. It was a full blown parade coming down our street! There were semi trucks as make shift floats for the processional that came down Francisco I Madero street. On the beds of these trucks were miniature replicas of churches and biblical scenes. Along with the religious motif someone must have decided to incorporate Toy Story for some extra pizzazz. Children and adults waved from the floats in Macy's Day style and tossed candy to the children who were on the sidewalks following the parade.

I later found out that this was a celebration dedicated to San Juan Diego, one of the many revered saints of the Catholic faith. According to popular belief San Juan Diego (1474-1578) was an indigenous Mexican who had a vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531. During this time the Catholic church was spreading their faith across the region of Mesoamerica. The vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a mixture of the Catholic faith's Mary, mother of Jesus, but being of an Mesoamerican indigenous heritage. This linked the indigenous people and the Catholic church and made for much easier conversion. San Juan Diego was canonized in 2002 as the Catholic church's first indigenous saint.

Today's celebration being so close to the Day of the Dead had many lingering components from the previous festivities. There were adults and children following the floats dressed in costumes from scary clowns to the grim reaper on stilts. These don't necessarily have anything to do with celebrating San Juan Diego, but why not use those costumes for another day, right?

The parade ended at the steps to the Guadalupe Temple in town. There the trucks stopped and everyone hung out in the street, blocking traffic, eating tortas while fireworks were set off in the plaza. All in all, a pretty standard Sunday here in San Cristobal.