San Juan Cosala

Every village in Mexico has a patron saint and when their saint's day comes around, they have a festival to honor him (her?). The little village of San Juan Cosala is about five miles, mas o menos, west of Ajijic, still on Lake Chapala. It's very small with just a few streets, but has a lovely church and its own little square. For a week, villages celebrate their saint, but on the last day, the celebration culminates with a procession from the church, around the streets, and back into the church for mass. Since this village's saint is St. John the Baptist, most of the floats depicted scenes of his life from the Bible. In addition, many of the little boys (including a couple of babies) are dressed in fake fur wrappings, a beard drawn on their faces, and carrying a staff as St. John did in the wilderness. Little girls wear their communion dresses (why not? Before they grow out of them!), and much of the village walks behind the procession, some carrying candles and walking barefoot in penance. The parade also had a mariachi band that later played inside the church before the mass. There was also a brass band and several groups of adults and children dressed in Indio costumes, dancing with bells and shaking rattling things. Very cool to see. All around the square were booths set up selling food and beverages. Bob and I each had a chicken tamale steaming hot from the steamer pot. Some booths have fresh fruit cut up that you buy by the extra-large cupful: mango, pineapple, guava, watermelon, papaya, cantaloupe, a sweet cactus fruit, and so on. Several grills were set up to grill meat and veggies to stuff into tortillas. Some stands were selling beer and tequila and aguafrescas, a sweet but light drink made with various kinds of fruit. It was a very lively scene. We didn't wait around for the fireworks though which would have been a few hours later.