Festival of San Diego de Alcala, an example of popular religiosity and social organization

Abstract

n this essay we start from the historical assumption in which the event of the Conquest forged the development of the native communities for the formation of their own cultural identity. Seen the aforementioned in a phenomenological way, we find more than a domination, it is a syncretism. The communities currently represent an intercultural and temporal dialogue that, when manifested in religious celebrations, give expression to a cultural identity of rich mixture and integration, forming an authenticity. In the community of Calvario, located in Quiroga, Michoacán, the day of san Diego de Alcala is celebrated from November 13 to 15, one of the biggest festivals of the town and of which we find the cultural vestiges of an ancient conversation between cultures pre-Hispanic, Catholic religiosity and Europeanism. This festival represents beyond any celebration, a social organization in which the indigenous community consolidates its strength and social cohesion through religious symbolic expressions.