7 CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS OF GUANAJUATO (MEXICO) - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Some customs and traditions of Guanajuato are several important dates, costumes, dances and gastronomic dishes very typical of Guanajuato. Guanajuato is one of the 32 states that make up the United Mexican States.

It is made up of 46 municipalities and its capital is the Colonial city of Guanajuato, declared a Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The most populated city in the State is León.

Guanajuato, Mexico

It is located in the center of the Mexican Republic and limits to the north with the state of San Luis de Potosí to the north, Michoacán to the south, to the west with Jalisco and to the east with Querétaro.

Its geographical position makes it have a semi-dry, temperate and semi-warm climate. It has two hydrological basins that irrigate the State, which are Lerma Santiago and Panuco-Tamesí.

Main customs and traditions of Guanajuato

The most representative traditions and customs of the State of Guanajuato are strongly linked to religious celebrations of a saint and include some representative gastronomic dishes of the region.

On the other hand, each city and municipality has its own celebrations.

1- Friday of Dolores

It is celebrated on the last Friday of Lent before Holy Week in honor of the Virgin of Dolores, patron saint of miners. That day the 7 sorrows that the Virgin Mary lived during the passion and death of her son Jesus Christ are commemorated.

Altars thick with flowers and lighted candles are erected, and water or snow (ice cream) is given as a gift, symbolizing the tears of Mary. It is customary to give flowers to women.

It is believed that this custom originated in the seventeenth century at the initiative of the Franciscan brothers, who at Easter erected altars in his honor in the streets and outside the hospitals.

2- Celebration of Holy Week

Between the end of March and the beginning of April, the Christian community worldwide commemorates the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Mexico, the country with the largest number of Catholics in the world, remembers this date with deep devotion and faith.

Guanajuato is no exception to the rule and various Eucharists abound during the season. On Holy Thursday the "visit to the seven temples" or "visit to the seven altars" takes place, an analogy to the seven rooms that Jesus went through on the day of his judgment.

It is common since then to visit seven temples, all of them are filled with flowers, crucifixes and other decorations for the occasion.

On Good Friday the Stations of the Cross are made and representations of the different scenes of Jesus on the way to Calvary are made.

A characteristic adaptation of Guanajuato to the procession is La Judea, a popular theater movement with a profane-religious content, inherited by Hermenegildo Bustos.

According to the dramatization, the Jews seek to recapture and kill Jesus at the expense of Judas Iscariot.

3- Opening of San Juan and Presa de la Olla

It is an artistic and cultural event that takes place on the first Monday of July. The celebration arose in the eighteenth century, in 1749 when the Olla Dam was finished and due to lack of pipes or filters, the dam had to be opened so that the river could bring fresh water.

Over time, bridges and roads were built so that people could appreciate the event in a more comfortable way and to this they added music, food, games of chance, bullfights, among other things, even the beauty pageant that crowned the queen. from the city.

With regard to "San Juan", before the dam the birth of Juan Bautista used to be commemorated (since June 24), although he did not have any temple erected.

Consequently, after the construction of the dam, they decided to join the two celebrations due to their chronological proximity and because finally John the Baptist is remembered for baptizing Christ in the waters of the Jordan, waters of the riverbed that also flowed around the same dates in Guanajuato.

4- Dance of Paloteros

It is a pre-Hispanic dance whose origin is not clear if it is due to the Piñícuaros or the Purúandiros.

In any case, this dance adopts its peculiarities in each of the groups, although the synopsis is the same: it stages the offering to the Sun and Moon deities to help them in their battles after the Spanish conquest, helps in the harvests and the process of miscegenation.

This dance emphasizes smooth, cadent martial-type movements, contrary to other Spanish-influenced dances with its distinctive stomping or sharp turns. His dancers, always men, are distinguished by wearing knee-length shorts with colored vertical lines.

5- Dance of the Torito

It is a traditional dance representative of the municipalities of Guanajuato, Silao and Romita that was born in 1837 around a story that apparently occurred in the Hacienda de Chichimellas.

According to tradition, at a party a small bull escapes from the corral and begins to cause fear among the people. The owner of the Hacienda rides his horse, trying to catch it and when he fails in his undertaking, the other guests at the party try to catch him.

The characters of the dance are: The charro, the caporal, the maringuia, the drunk, the hunchback, the trip, the devil and death and the Apache.

His music and movements are upbeat and contagious.

6- Anniversary of the Day of the taking of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas

It is a civil commemoration held on September 28 of each year. It recalls the heroic feat of 1810 in which the insurgent army led by the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Castilla confronts the royalists (Spanish) and seizes the domain of Alhóndiga de Granaditas, starting the independence struggle of Mexico.

A civic-military parade is offered in which schools, police forces and the 46 municipalities that make up the state participate

7- Dress of the "Galareña"

It was an everyday clothing a few centuries ago and today it is a folk costume that represents the Guanajuato woman.

It consists of three colorful layers of A-line skirts, superimposed with different details and ranging from the waist. The first and second layers were for domestic use and the third was used when they were going out.

The female back is covered by a white blouse with an embroidered square neckline like the short sleeves.

Striking colored necklaces and earrings, scarves, bracelets, bows and sophisticated braids adorned the clothing. He carried a wooden tray in which he deposited the pieces of stone where the metal lay.

It is called “Galareña” because women used this outfit to accompany their husbands and older children to their work in the galleys, outside the mines.

References

1. Guanajuato state government. (24 of 7 of 2017). Know our state. Obtained from the Government of the State of Guanajuato: guanajuato.gob.mx.
2. Guanajuato state government. (24 of 7 of 2017). Typical dress. Obtained from the Government of the State of Guanajuato: guanajuato.gob.mx.
3. Jimenez Gonzalez, VM (24 of 7 of 2017). Guanajuato. Mexico in your pocket. Obtained from Google Books: books.google.com.
4. Unknown Mexico. (24 of 7 of 2017). Assault and capture of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, Guanajuato. Obtained from Unknown Mexico: mexicodesconocido.com.mx.
5. Quanaxhuato. (24 of 7 of 2017). Festivities of San Juan and Presa de la Olla. Obtained from Quanaxhuato. Events, culture and fun in Guanajuato: quanaxhuato.com.
6. Quanaxhuato. (24 of 7 of 2017). Easter. Obtained from Quanaxhuato. Events, culture and fun in Guanajuato capital: quanaxhuato.com.
7. Quanaxhuato. (24 of 7 of 2017). Friday of pain. Obtained from Quanaxhuato. Events, culture and fun in Guanajuato capital: quanaxhuato.com.
8. Guanajuato Tourism Secretariat. (24 of 7 of 2017). "La Judea" a tradition of Holy Week in Guanajuato. Obtained from the Secretariat of Tourism of Guanajuato: sectur.guanajuato.gob.mx.