December’s Recipient of Sayulita Life’s $5,000 Donation*: The Virgin de Guadalupe Festival in Sayulita
This month’s recipient of Sayulita Life’s $5,000 donation goes towards the 2019 Virgin de Guadalupe Festival in Sayulita, or the “Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe”, a popular religious holiday and festival all across Mexico. Every year in Sayulita, the Sayulita Catholic Church and other volunteers organize a variety of activities and traditional celebrations for this festival. Sayulita Life’s donation of $5,000 pesos will go directly toward helping to fund this year’s festivities, such as the musical performance from the Mariachi band “Los Caporales”, as well as decorations and other items needed for the celebration.
The Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, or “Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe”, is a popular Catholic holiday that celebrates the belief that a man named Juan Diego encountered the Virgin Mary numerous times in Mexico City on December 9th and 12th in the year 1531. The Virgin Mary later became the patron saint of Mexico in 1746, and the Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe became a national holiday in 1859. Now, the Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe is celebrated annually all across Mexico on December 12th. This holiday, which honors the Catholic Saint the Lady of Guadalupe, is a very important day for many Mexican citizens. Each year, thousands of devoted Mexicans from all over the country travel to the Basilica of Guadalupe located in Mexico City, to visit and see “La Virgen Morena”. This icon of the Virgin Mary is considered to be very holy according to Mexican Catholics, who believe that the Virgin Mary has the power to perform miracles. There, they will celebrate the “Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe” (Our Lady of Guadalupe) with a mass ceremony and a traditional fair in her honor. Some people bring presents to offer to the virgin, such as flowers, while other visitors will perform dances and sing songs for her, believing in her power to grant them miracles.
The Dia de la Virgen Guadalupe, or the Virgin de Guadalupe Festival, is a festive and joyful celebration here in Sayulita, which begins in the first few days of December, and ends on the night of December 11th, 2019, with the party going into the early morning hours of December 12th. While some people will attend church in the morning of December 11th, there will also be other fiestas and festivities starting in the afternoon and all throughout the evening in the streets and the main plaza. You will hear early morning cannons going off in various neighborhoods around town in the days leading up to the main holiday. On the night of the 11th, there will also be processionals or types of parades that start in different neighborhoods of Sayulita with floats, ending in the plaza with the main celebration of music, dancing, food, fireworks, and the famous firecracker shooting “bulls”. These bull-shaped contraptions, or “toritos” are pulled around the plaza and the streets, as small fireworks shoot out and people run and dance around them. The celebration will culminate with the live Mariachi band “Los Caporales” playing in the plaza starting at midnight, as the day turns to December 12th. They will play into the early hours of the morning.
To find out more information about this year’s Dia de la Virgen Guadalupe holiday and festivities in Sayulita, visit their Facebook Page.
*Since its founding in 2004, SayulitaLife.com has been dedicated to giving back to the community of Sayulita. In our 15th year as a company, Sayulita Life has created the “Giving Fund”, where we have pledged to donate $5,000 pesos EVERY MONTH to a local charity or cause. Read more at https://www.sayulitalife.com/giving-back.
*Written by: Aanya Sheikh-Taheri
