Every October 12, Catholics all over Mexico converge in Guadalajara for the Procession of the Virgin of Zapopan, when the 10 inch statue of the virgin is carried out of the Cathedral in Guadalajara, and leads an 8km parade with 1 million people to the community of Zapopan on the outskirts of the city where she enters the Basilica of Zapopan.
The size of this procession is indescribable. One million people go a very very very long way, and the parade just doesn’t stop. The celebration starts the night before when thousands of people sleep on the streets and begins with a 5 a.m. mass at the cathedral, which is nearly impossible to gain entry to. At 6 a.m. the tiny virgin leaves the cathedral to ringing bells and applause from the waiting crowd.
What struck me most about this parade was that it so accurately symbolized the combination of Spanish and Indigenous cultures here. For a Catholic holiday, the majority of the parade participants were made up of indigenous dance groups, wearing the most beautiful clothes of embroidery, huge feather-filled head dresses and metal or shells on their feet to make noise while dancing to the beat of a drum made from a barrel.
Towards the end of the parade I walked for a few kilometers with a group of young men dressed as savage warriors, representing the images that the Spaniard conquistadors had of the indigenous people of this region when they arrived. With this group were two other young men dressed as Spaniards wearing velvet vests and decorative hats and carrying two-meter-long switches from branches. Taunted by the dancing “Savages”, the two men proceeded to whip the others as hard as they could with the switches to the point at which the “Spaniards” were sweating and exhausted and the “Savages” were covered in welts and bleeding. It was quite a site, and really was amazing to see the brutality, literally. Each time a switch would break, a young boy would run and fetch another from a wheelbarrow being pushed from behind the group. Afterward, I spoke with the group’s leader who explained the performance and its significance in the history of Mexico. I was lucky to escape without being whipped myself. It was hard to get close enough to shoot and remain out of the switch’s stroke. Too many times I could feel the wind off the switch on my face!
I also made some portraits of many of those in the parade which can be found here.
Hi Josh,
Great work! Wendy and I have been looking over and over at the scene with the switches, and are not sure it represents Spaniards and Indians. The masks are clearly a metaphor for sin, and the role of the “cowboys” is also easy to identify. We think we are missing some element of the clothing worn by the cowboys, though. Wendy thinks the velvet vests and the red plume are vaguely evocative of Spain, and not Mexican per se, but the rest doesn´t entirely add up for us. Particularly, what is the story with the cowboy hats and white clothing? White can be purity, red can be royalty or clergy, but the composite is somewhat cryptic. In any case, it is fascinating material, and within there are some really fine shots. Congratulations!
Hi Josh, there really is so much life going on in the streets og Guadalajara! I once seen a fiesta in St. Sebastian in Spain, and it remains me of the carneval feeling. It seems so boring now in Prague in October. (-: Jana