October 2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

October 2018 Events in Sonora

October 2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

October is a great month to be in Sonora, Mexico. Temperatures are becoming even more moderate, shrimp and other fresh seafood from the Gulf of California are in season and the events calendar is getting busy.

As the month begins, the Fiestas de Octubre in Magdalena are already in full swing, and on October 4 the fiestas will honor Saint Francis on his feast day. Other religious fiestas will honor San Rafael and San Judas Tadeo.

Other events during the month of October include cultural festivals, cotton festivals, and car and boat racing in Puerto Peñasco.

And as the month comes to a close, there are unique festivals and activities in advance of the Day of the Dead, like the annual Festival de la Calaca in Guaymas.

1

XIII Festival de Teatro Universitario
Festival of University Theater
Hermosillo
University of Sonora Campus
A theater festival with more than 100 performing artists in a variety of theater presentations. More information.

4

Fiestas de San Francisco Javier / Fiestas de Octubre
Late September/early October
Magdalena de Kino
Hundreds of Catholic pilgrims walk from the border to Magdalena every year, to fulfill a manda (promise in exchange for a blessing). The festival honors the town’s patron saint, San Francisco Javier and the patron saint of Franciscans, Saint Francis of Assisi. The week of festivities include religious observances, art, history and culture exhibitions, and muchas fiestas. More information.

5 – 6

Southern Arizona Desert Racing (SADR)
Point to Point the Long Way
Puerto Peñasco

12

Dia de la Raza – “Day of the Race” (Columbus Day)
This day observes the arrival of Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colón) in the Americas. The event coincides with the celebration of Columbus Day in the United States.

12 – 13

Third Annual Puerto Lobos Fishing Tournament
With 4×4 offroading, a coastal bicycle ride and sand drags
Puerto Lobos, Caborca, Sonora
More information

Piñata Regatta
Two days of races, a Saturday night dinner and prize raffle
Sandy Beach
Puerto Penasco

18 – 21

Festival Internacional Cervantino
On the Malecon
Puerto Penasco
More information

23 – 24

Fiestas de San Rafael and Joaquin Murrieta Days
Trincheras
Descendants of Sonora native Joaquin Murrieta host a festival in his honor, in conjunction with the municipality of Trincheras’s celebration of San Rafael, its patron saint.

27

Festival del Membrillo
San Ignacio, Magdalena, Sonora

27 – 29

16th Annual Festival de la Calaca
A marvelous event that features large and very creative calacas (Day of the Dead figures) in addition to displays of Day of the Dead altars, cultural displays, musical entertainment, a Day of the Dead procession and more.
Guaymas

28

Feast Day of San Judas Tadeo (St. Jude Thaddaeus)
The patron saint of “hopeless cases and things almost dispaired of,” is widely revered in Sonora, and many towns hold processions, masses and other events in his honor.

28 – 30

HISAR Festival – Festival Hilario Sánchez Rubio
Empalme
Plaza Independencia (El Tinaco)

30 – 31

3ro Festival Panteonero
Day of the Dead Festivities
Caborca

Other Events – Dates not yet announced

Feria de Algodón – Cotton Fair
San Luis Rio Colorado
Caborca

Festival de la Calaca 2018
Casa de la Cultura, Ciudad Obregon

2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

January to March Events

April to June Events

July to September Events

October to December Events

September 2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

September 2018 Events in Sonora

September 2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

September is an active and exciting month in Sonora and the rest of Mexico. It is a month of patriotism, with lots of civic and relgious events to celebrate.

The summer heat subsides, monsoon rains have ended and although the weather may still be a bit warm but the skies are blue and the evenings fabulous.

This is the mes patria, the month of the homeland in Mexico. Independence Day is on September 16, and the night before Sonorans will gather at their palacio municipal for the “grito de independencia,” the shout of independence – Viva Mexico!

There are also several major feast days for Catholic saints in September that are observed in Sonoran pueblos. Santa Rosalia, the Virgin of Loreto, the Virgin de los Dolores and the feast day of saints San Gabriel, San Rafael and the Archangel San Miguel. And perhaps the biggest celebration begins during the last month of September in Magdalena de Kino, in advance of the Feast Day of Saint Francis on October 4.

2

First Sunday of September – Aunt’s Day (Dia de la Tia)

3

Arivechi – Fiestas patronal en honor a Santa Rosalía (3-4)

4

Feast Day of Santa Rosalía

7

Suagui Grande – Fiesta en honor de la Virgen del Rosario (7-8)

Villa Pesqueira – Fiesta similiar pero denominada Bajada de la Virgen de Guadalupe (7-11)

8

Feast Day of the Virgen of Loreto

Bacadéhuachi – Fiesta patronal de la Virgen de Loreto. Verbena popular (8-10)

San Miguel de Horcasitas – Fiesta patronal en honor a la Virgen de Loreto (8-12)

13

Day of the Boy Heroes (Día de los Niños Héroes)
This annual event honors the cadets who died defending the castle of Chapultepec in Mexico City from an advancing force of American soldiers.

15

Feast Day of the Virgen de los Dolores

Sáric – Fiesta patronal en honor de la Virgen de los Dolores

Banámichi – Fiesta Patronal de Nuestra Señora de Loreto. Baile de coronación de la reina y carreras de caballos (15-20)

Grito de Independencia – Grito de Dolores

On the eve of Mexican Independence Day, elected officials throughout Mexico will wave a Mexican Flag while they and crowds gathered below are shouting “Viva Mexico!.” This tradition, also known as the Grito de Dolores, is a tradition that harkens back to when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla first made the declaration at the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1810.

16

Mexican Independence Day – Dia de la Independencia

17

Tepache – Festival Sierra Alta (17-18)

19

Empalme – Founding anniversary celebration – Festejo de aniversario de la fundación del municipio

21

Day of the Photographer – Día del Fotógrafo

25

Festivals of the Sierra Alta (25 – 27)

Bacadéhuachi – Festival de La Sierra Alta

Bacerac – Festival de La Sierra Alta

Huachinera – Festival de La Sierra Alta

27

International Tourism Day – Día Mundial del Turismo

29

Feast Day of San Gabriel, San Rafael and the Archangel San Miguel

Santos Arcángeles San Miguel, San Gabriel y San Rafael

Soyopa – Fiestas en Honor de San Miguel

Bacerac – Fiestas patronales en honor of San Miguel Arcángel

Bacoachi – Fiestas patronales en honor de San Miguel Arcángel

Bavispe – Fiestas patronales en honor de San Miguel Arcángel (29-31)

Last week of September

Magdalena de Kino – Fiestas de San Francisco Javier (to Oct. 4)

2018 Annual Events in Sonora, Mexico

January to March Events

April to June Events

July to September Events

October to December Events

August 2018 Events in Sonora Mexico

Ruins of Kino Mission San Valentin del Bizani near Caborca, Sonora, Mexico. Father Kino's birthday is August 10.

August 2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

The month of August has the hottest temperatures of the year for the state of Sonora, Mexico. This is especially true for the state capital of Hermosillo, which typically stays in a range of high triple-digit temperatures every day of the month.

August 9 is the Day of the Indigenous Pueblo and the following day is the birth date of Italian Jesuit priest Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino, who established mission churches and greatly contributed to the social and economic development of the region.

Most of the August events in Sonora are dates on the Catholic liturgical calendar that are celebrated with great reverence. Feast days include San Cayetano, San Lorenzo, San Bartolo and Santa Rosa de Lima, in addition to the day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on August 15.

2

Day of the Angels – Día de Los Ángeles

San Miguel de Horcasitas, Hermosillo

3

Baile de los Abanicos (Fan dance)

Mazatán

7

Feast Day of San Cayetano, Father of Providence (patron saint of the unemployed, job seekers, bread and health)

The Navojoa pueblos of Sinahuiza and Bacabachi

8

Birth date of Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919)

9

Feast Day of San Lorenzo – Día de San Lorenzo

Festivals in honor of their patron saint – Fiestas patronales en honor a San Lorenzo.

Huépac
Sahuaripa

International Day of the Indigenous Pueblo

10

Birth date of Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino (1645-1711)

15

Assumption of the Virgin Mary (the day when the body and soul of the Virgin Mary were taken to heaven after finishing their days on earth)

Atil – Fiesta de la Virgen de la Asunción de Opodepe

Arizpe – Fiesta de la Virgen de la Asunción de Opodepe

Bacerac – Fiesta patronal en honor a la Virgen de la Asunción de Opodepe (15-19)

Hermosillo – Fiestas Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (6-15)

Huásabas – Fiesta patronal en honor a la Virgen María (15-18)

Naco – Celebración para conmemorar el aniversario del municipio

Navobaxia, Huatabampo – La Virgen de Santa Maria de la Asunción (14-15)

Opodepe – Fiesta patronal en honor a Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Opodepe

San Ignacio Cohuirimpo, Navojoa – Santa Maria del Buaraje

23-24

Feast Day of San Bartolo – Día de San Bartolo

Batacosa
Quiriego

28

Grandparent’s Day

30

Feast Day of Santa Rosa de Lima – Día de Santa Rosa de Lima

Bácum
Nácori Chico – Fiesta patronal en honor a Santa Rosa de Lima (Aug 30-Sept. 2)

31

Anniversary of the Founding of Guaymas
Guaymas

Hermosillo Fiestas de la Asuncion - August 2018

2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

January to March Events

April to June Events

July to September Events

October to December Events

July 2018 Events in Sonora Mexico

July 2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

July is a very hot month as far as temperatures go in Sonora, not so much with the events calendar. There are some notable exceptions though, the Feria de la Uva (Grape Fair) in Caborca, fiestas to celebrate the founding of Puerto Penasco and a cultural arts festival to commemorate a historic event in Guaymas.

Feria de la Uva
Caborca
A local event held annually to celebrate the grape harvest. Events include a parade, coronation of the uva queen, dances and other fiestas.

10

Fiestas del Pueblo Agua y Sol
Puerto Peñasco
This annual event celebrates the July 10, 1907 founding of Puerto Peñasco. Adding to the typically festive ambiance of Rocky Point, this festival features music, good food and art. See the Puerto Peñasco City website for more information.

12 – 15

Mar Bermejo Festival
Guaymas
This festival honors the defense of the port of Guaymas against a French invasion on July 13, 1854, known as the Battle of Guaymas. Festivities include cultural and artistic exhibitions sponsored by the City of Guaymas’s Civic and Cultural Action Department (Dirección de Acción Cívica y Cultural) and supported by the state’s Institute of Culture (Instituto Sonorense de Cultura). Read more.

18

Remembrance of the death of President Benito Juárez (March 21, 1806 to July 18, 1872)
(Not a national holiday)

20 – 29

Fiestas de Blanco y Negro
(White and Black Fiestas)
Annual fiestas that include a variety of activities, including ballet folklorico, horse races, mariachis, theater, dances and the crowning of Miss Santa Ana 2018.
Santa Ana

31

Remembrance of the death of Miguel Hidalgo, leader of the Mexican War of Independence (May 8, 1753 to July 31, 1811)
(Not a national holiday)

Fiestas Blanco y Negro 2018 Santa Ana Sonora

2018 Events in Sonora, Mexico

January to March Events

April to June Events

July to September Events

October to December Events

Videos of Dia de San Juan Traditional Fiestas

June 24 - Feast Day of John the Baptist in Sonora

Videos from Yoreme Mayo ceremonies in Navojoa, Sonora

Celebrating the feast day of San Juan Bautista in Navojoa, Sonora on June 24

Celebrations of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

June 24 is the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, a major liturgical day in the Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches, and a feast day with great religious and cultural significance in Sonora.

In the Yoreme Mayo pueblo of Pueblo Viejo, Navojoa, celebrations begin on the eve of June 24, where dancers and musicians perform all night in the town’s ramada gathering area.

On the morning of June 24, a procession takes the image of Saint John to the River Mayo, led by matachin dancers, paskolas and deer dancers. The saint is then bathed in the river and blessed, which it is believed causes the waters of the River Mayo to be blessed.

Participants then either enter the river or splash each other with water from the river, a refreshing end to the ceremony on this hot summer day.

Following are videos from the 2017 “fiestas tradicionales” in observance of the nativity day of St John the Baptist, in the Yoreme Mayo town of Pueblo Viejo, Navojoa, Sonora.

Celebrating Dia de San Juan Bautista in the Mayo River - Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico

June 24 – Feast Day of John the Baptist in Sonora

June 24 - Feast Day of John the Baptist in Sonora

Taking St John the Baptist to the River Mayo in Navojoa, Sonora on June 24

Celebrations of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

June 24 is the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, a major liturgical day in the Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches, and a feast day with great religious and cultural significance in Sonora.

San Juan Bautista is one of the most revered saints, as the prophet who foretold the coming of the Messiah in the form of Jesus Christ, and who baptized Jesus in the River Jordan.

Where the feast days of saints usually celebrate the day of their death (and birth into the afterlife), the nativity of Saint John the Baptist commemorates his birth, six months before the birth of Christ.

The date is linked to two other major days on the liturgical calendar. It is three months after the annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would conceive Jesus, and six months before Christmas.

Saint John also has a feast day on August 29 to commemorate his beheading, around the year A.D 28.

Celebrations in Honor of Saint John

The nativity of Saint John is observed in different ways in different regions of the world.

Europeans light fires on the eve of the nativity and believe that herbs picked on the eve of June 24 have special healing powers, and hidden treasures sit exposed in open places. Some Scandinavian and Slavic countries have ancient beliefs that witches and demons are allowed to roam the earth of the eve of the nativity. Source: Wikipedia.

Observances of Día de San Juan in Sonora

In Sonora, the feast day of St John is revered among the native peoples of the region, especially the indigenous Yoeme Yaqui and Yoreme Mayo.

Instead of fire, the day is celebrated with water, perhaps because Saint John is the patron saint of baptism and the date comes at a time when seasonal summer rains typically begin in this hot, dry desert region. A common belief is that any rains on June 24 will be holy water.

Celebrations typically begin on the eve of the nativity of St John and continue through the night. The day of the 24th is celebrated with religious services, processions, dance and other activities. Most involve lots of water, where participants get wet through sprinkling, throwing water or otherwise getting soaked with water.

Celebrations in Pueblo Viejo, Navojoa, Sonora

In the Yoreme Mayo pueblo of Pueblo Viejo, Navojoa, observances of this special day begin on the 22nd with a traditional canariom ceremony,

Starting on the eve of the Dia de San Juan, traditional paskola, matachin and deer dancers perform with musicians through the night at a gathering in the pueblo’s ramada area.

On the morning of June 24, a procession takes the image of Saint John to the River Mayo, led by matachin dancers, paskolas and deer dancers.

Saint John is then taken in to the river, where the saintly image is bathed. It is a ritual that the faithful believe also blesses the river’s water, making it holy water. Participants on the banks of the River Mayo enter the water and splash each other and collect samples of the holy water.