The Zapopan Romeria tradition that survives the Guadalupano Embate

Abstract

The pilgrimage of the Virgin of Zapopan has been declared cultural heritage of the municipality of Zapopan in Jalisco, Mexico, in 2016, by virtue of being a living and current tradition that was born in the late seventeenth century in honour of the Virgin of Expectation. This devotion was spread by the Franciscan friars, who were the first to arrive in New Galicia, a territory that would counterweight New Spain in various aspects.

One of these was the position held by the Franciscans in the way of evangelizing, seeking to avoid spreading miracles of any image. The devotion was so great that they propitiated the Virgin of Expectation, that despite the campaign of spreading the faith to the Virgin of Guadalupe made from the bishopric of Mexico City, the neo-Galician people maintained as their main image of veneration the Virgin of Zapopan, which has been named as patron of Guadalajara and General, among other recognitions that have been granted.

The pilgrimage on October 12 of each year and the pilgrimage that makes the image to different temples of the city of Guadalajara during the months of May to October, have survived the sieve of time and the dominant guadalupanismo in almost all the population of Mexico.