Jocotepec’s 2024 fiestas patronales commenced on Monday, January 8 with the traditional renovation of vows of allegiance to El Señor del Monte led by the town’s ecclesiastical and government authorities.
Festivities will continue through Sunday, January 21. Daily religious activities start at dawn with 6 a.m. rosary devotions, picking up again with street processions guided by each day’s sponsor guilds scheduled at 6 p.m. on most dates.
The celebration invariably culminates on the third Sunday of January when the figure of the Lord of the Mount is carried out of the parish church at 4 p.m. to be paraded around central thoroughfares accompanied by a throng of pilgrims. As manifestations of faith, many participants make the long march crawling on their knees, some walk along barefooted and blindfolded, and others carry elaborately decorated candles.
The secular side of the fiestas features high-decibel nighttime musical spectacles at the plaza, mechanical rides for youngsters, shopping for assorted merchandise, typical foods and liquid libations at vendor stalls wrapped around the center of town, and dazzling fireworks displays set ablaze nightly in the church atrium at 10 p.m.
Highlights of the program include the free Eclectico music fest set for Monday, January 15, at 9 p.m., with performances of mariachi, rock, funk, cumbia, pop, ska and reggae bands taking turns on the plaza stage, plus the series of bull-riding events pumped by banda groups booked for January 14, 20 and 22 at the lienzo charro arena.
This year, Jocotepec City Hall has granted permits for eight locations of public parking lots for the convenience of visitors, all operating with regulated costs. Addresses illustrated with photos are posted on the Jocotepec government’s Facebook site.