Izamal

Festivals and Traditions

Few months pass in this land without the presence of music, dance, offerings and prayer which form a multicolored mosaic and bedeck the splendidly yellow city. However, in June and December people come from the four cardinal points and the city overflows with copal resin, flowers, prayers and chants.

In June the festivities are in honor of San Antonio de Padua. The convent’s atrium takes on all the colors of the rainbow and chanting is heard from sunrise to sunset. The Virgin of Izamal is passed around the streets, blessings are asked, vows are made and chants offered for when her day arrives in December. By the 21st the festivities have died down and the summer equinox is celebrated with quieter respect.

Before December arrives, the dead have been celebrated and honored; flowers are wilting in the cemetery. Daybreak on 29th November is heralded by fireworks in the sky and prayers on the ground; bright multicolored stands spring up along the main streets and for nine days and nights the arrival of 8th December will be anxiously awaited, to celebrate the Virgin of Izamal, the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.