Fiesta de la Virgen de Guadalupe Santa Rosa Xochiac

The butlers, months in advance, gather with the guilds of the town the necessary resources for the celebration that lasts three days. With colored sawdust a carpet of 1.2 km long marks the way of the procession of the Virgin of Guadalupe, from the parish to the chapel to celebrate the New Year Mass. The second day an arts festival is held and at the last day a popular dance is displayed. This tradition originated in 1971.

This event is held every year on 12 December, the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, in Santa Rosa Xochiac, an original pueblo of Álvaro Obregón in the wooded west of the city.

What happens. The vigil begins on the night of 11 December with Las Mañanitas sung to the Virgin at midnight, followed by masses through 12 December. The image is carried in procession through the streets, dance groups perform in the atrium, and the pueblo sets up a fair with food, rides and fireworks. Many households also take part in pilgrimages down to the Basilica on the Tepeyac.

The scale of this date in Mexico. 12 December is the largest religious observance in the country. Every parish with a Guadalupan image keeps it, which means the whole city — not only the Tepeyac — is in motion that night.

Practical notes. Santa Rosa Xochiac is high in the hills on the way to the Desierto de los Leones, with no Metro: bus or taxi from Observatorio or San Ángel. December nights up here are genuinely cold. Entry is free, the fair runs on cash, and the main moments are midnight and the following morning.