Living at Lake Chapala in Mexico

Several Saint's days festivals are feted around Lake Chapala each year in June. The most traditional and devout of these north shore novenas is in honor of the patron saint of San Juan Cosalá, San Juan Bautista.

The novena begins on June 16 when the faithful residents of San Juan gather with fireworks, the town band and indigenous dancers early each morning and again in the evening to walk in a pilgrimage to the church to honor their patron St. John the Baptist.

According to Bible history, John was the son of the Virgin Mary's elderly cousin Ana, and Zachary, a priest of the temple in Jerusalem. Because John lived as a hermit in the desert for many years, statues and paintings usually portray him with a lamb (representing Jesus), wearing animal hides and carrying a staff topped with a small cross.

The church calendar records the date on which the saints died as their feast day. John the Baptist, like his cousin Jesus Christ is feted both on the date of his death and his birth. That the births of these cousins are celebrated during the summer and winter solstices is more than coincidence. Long before Christianity and the commemoration of these holy figures, all around the world long-established festivals and celebrations were customary on the solstices and equinoxes.

Mid-summer was a joyous time for pagan peoples; celebrated for the abundance of food and medicinal stuffs. By June the early crops were harvested, other crops were growing well and flowers and food were plentiful. June was the preferred time for weddings; in fact the first full moon in June was designated as "the honey moon" as newlyweds were fed dishes made with freshly harvested honey for the first month of their married lives.

The ancient Celts, Chinese, Romans, Scandinavians. Germanic and Slavic tribes all had special ceremonies for the June 24th one of the longest days of the year. Midsummers Day was once a celebration of trees, water, earth, fire, fertility and agriculture. All over the world, long awaited fiestas filled the magical short night with altars of thanksgiving, feasting, prayer, predictions and good luck charms.

By the middle ages and renaissance, even the dew on St. John's day was believed to have healing properties. Other highly venerated plants were ferns which were said to flower only once a year in the dark of Midsummer's Eve, along with grasses, clovers and the yellow star-shaped flowers of St. John's Wort. Even Native Americans got into the act with Hopi dancing to spirits for rain and fertility, sending messages between humanity and the Gods.

Precisely at sunset on St. John's Eve, men named John set chains of midsummer bonfires along the crests of hills, at the edges of rivers and lakes, and near graveyards all across Europe. It was believed the harvest would be better when the widest possible area of fields were illuminated by the fire, so a wooden wheel was soaked in tar or pitch and attached to a pole on the highest hill before being set afire.

The bonfires were blessed with Holy Water and therefore believed to exorcise the demons and keep the fairies away. Coals from the bonfires were carried to new homes to kindle the first fires and include the homes in the blessings. The bonfires were carefully tended until the dawn when the singing and dancing finally ended. The ashes from the fires were gathered and spread on the fields as a blessing and purification.

The enormous solemn final procession of the fiesta on the afternoon of the June 24 feast day of San Juan Bautista is the most awe-inspiring of any in this region of Mexico. The procession begins and ends at the church and the mass of faithful pilgrims stretches for blocks and grows as it moves through the village to the closing Mass of the nine-day celebration.

Several groups of indigenous dancers are interspersed with three or four bands, and thousands of people?from newborn babes to the most elderly members of the community walk together in the pilgrimage to honor their patron saint and in thanksgiving for their answered prayers to St. John the Baptist.

Many of the young girls wear their white First Communion or confirmation dresses for the procession. The great-grandmothers lean on the arms of their teenaged progeny. Blindfolded parish member and others with bare feet are guided along the harsh cobblestones as they fulfill a promise made while asking San Juan's intercession to bring their prayers to God's attention.

The tiny boys of the community are dressed to resemble John the Baptist as the Bible pictures him living in the wilderness. You'll see these animal skin-clad tots as the central focus of home ofrendas (altars) along the procession route and carried in their parents' arms for the long walk.

The thousand or so people are interspaced with carros alegóricos (elaborate floats with Biblical themes). Mounted on trucks these scenes are amazingly effective and created with great imagination and artistic touches. You'll often spot Moses being rescued from the rushes, Jesus baptized by his cousin St. John, Mary's visit to her Cousin Ana, or the child Jesus preaching to the elders in the temple.

While most Lakeside villages are places the emphasis more and more on the carnival, musical entertainment, drinking and dancing, the focus in San Juan Cosalá is still on the church and the religious aspects of old Mexican patron feast day traditions.

Want to attend? Be sure to attend the final procession in San Juan Cosalá. The late afternoon pilgrimage leaves the church about 6 p.m., moving to the west edge of town where it turns right onto the highway and proceeds east to San Juan's main street, Porfirio Díaz and back to the church. The participants include hundreds of villagers, several bands, pilgrims, elaborate floats and dancing indigenous groups all jostling for space in the narrow streets. Traffic through the village is stopped during the procession, so arrive early and don?t park on the procession route.