Romeria! Festival for the Lady of Zapopan

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 “Viva la Lady del Zapopan! Viva la Maria!”

Imagine nearly a million people packed into a square, waving white handkerchiefs, singing and dancing as they cheer the return of a foot-high Virgin Mary icon  to their home cathedral, and you’ll understand the joy behind Romeria, the biggest festival day in the Guadalajara region.

Pronounced row-MA-ree-a, the holiday – held Oct. 12 every year – is also known as the Day of the Lady of Zapopan. It centers around “Our Lady,” a statue that spends half of the year at the Basilica of Our Lady in Zapopan (zah-POE-pan), a small city just outside Guadalajara.

Legend has it that in 1525, Franciscan friar Padre Antonio de Segovia wore a cornhusk image of the Madonna around his neck. When he brought it out on the battlefield during the Spanish conquest, the native Indians grew fearful of the icon’s powers and stopped fighting. Thus the miracles attributed to Lady – otherwise known as The Pacifier – began.

 Since then, she has taken on greater significance as a protective figure. Guadalajara is known for its floods and electrical storms (apparently death by lightning strike is not an unusual way to go in Jalisco). To keep each neighborhood safe during the rainy season, the Lady leaves her home in Zapopan and travels around to the different churches and cathedrals in Guadalajara. Everywhere she goes, she is greeted with celebrations and fiestas. Believers attribute numerous miracles to her; it’s said that she rescued nearby Lake Chapula from a drought.

 But all travelers must come home sometime, and the Lady is no exception.

On Oct. 12, she returns every year to Zapopan, and the Franciscan monks that still serve her. Her homecoming is marked with a massive festival, celebrated by pilgrims who come to Zapopan from all over Jalisco. The procession has been going on for 270 years and has never been interrupted. Schools and banks are closed as families gather together near the Lady’s route.

I saw Romeria as part of a special SATW tour, arranged by the tourist bureau of Zapopan. When we left Guadalajara around 7 a.m., some of the streets were already crowded. That’s because the Lady had spent the previous week at the Guadalajara cathedral, and many pilgrims make the 5- mile trip to Zapopan with her, the most faithful going the distance on their knees. Men on horseback – known as charros –  rode along the media toward Zapaopan. Many looked tired; our guide, Lilly, said that many had been riding all night to pay their respects.

Outside the Basilica, people were spread out on blankets with pillows and food. Some had slept there all night. Many of the celebrants were dressed in white, to show respect to the Virgin. Others were dressed to party, wearing colorful Indian costumes and feathers to mark the Lady’s history as a peacemaker. And still others brought elaborate masks they had made in her honor; they would wear them as they danced into the night.

Thanks to our hosts, we were able to watch the Zapopan plaza fill up from a vantage point on the Basilica roof. Because of swine flu fears, the bishop decided to hold the celebration Mass outside; celebrants were also urged to avoid hugging and kissing each other. The crowd roared as a gold house constructed especially for the Virgin proceded from the Basilica to the Zapopan city gates to meet the home-bound icon.

 ”It’s very Sister Act,” a member of our group said. And indeed, this was no solemn festival. Think chants set to a synthesizer beat, accompanying by raucous dancing and clapping. At various points, a woman serving as an emcee of sorts would shout from the Cathedral balcony,

 ”Are you tired?” she called out to the crowd in Spanish.

“NO!!” yelled the crowd.

“Do you love our Lady?”

“SI!”

The tenor of the celebration grew louder as the Virgin passed through the city gates. Corps of drummers and buglers walked through the Plaza into the Basilica, all paying homage to the Lady. Groups of eight men or more bore massive flower arrangements into the Basilica, and the smell of lilies permeated the church courtyard.  

 Finally the Lady appeared on the plaza, atop her elaborate house carried by chosen faithful. As she passed, people cheered and waved white handkerchiefs. “Viva la Lady del Zapopan!”

High above the courtyard in the Basilica’s tower, a man rang the bells with a mallet, sending peals throughout the city.

The  Bishop released white doves as the Virgin approached the altar.

Finally, in front of an audience of civic and religious diginitaries, the Lady was taken from her mobile home and placed on a pedestal. The songs turned from escatic to reverential. And so the Mass began.

Outside the Cathedral gates, people listened to the service on their radios, as they lounged on blankets with their families. Some picnicked on food sold by vendors wearing hospital masks, while others napped. The celebration would go on throughout the night, and we saw several dancers preparing their costume masks for the long party ahead.