Every October 12, Guadalajara walks. The Virgin of Zapopan leaves the city’s cathedral and is carried about nine kilometres to her basilica in Zapopan. This is the RomerĂa, one of the largest pilgrimages in Mexico. In 2022 the governor of Jalisco reported 2.4 million people along the route.
The figure is small, about 34 centimetres, made of corn-stalk paste by indigenous artisans in the 16th century. She has been in the Zapopan area for some 400 years, and the procession is usually dated to 1734.
She is called La Generala. On September 15, 1821, she was named General of the Trigarante Army, days before Mexico’s independence. In 1921 Pope Benedict XV authorized her papal coronation. In 2018 UNESCO listed the RomerĂa as Intangible Cultural Heritage.
We started in the square in front of Guadalajara’s cathedral. The crowds got bigger as we came in. Dance groups were already there, in feathers, masks, ribbons and bells, waiting for the procession to begin. Many carried banners with the name of their parish.
When it set off, we walked with it, along with thousands of others. We managed part of the way. Then we got tired and cheated, and hopped on a bus. The walkers kept going.
The RomerĂa de Zapopan is held every October 12.