Traditional Fiestas of the Holy Trinity

The feast day of the Holy Trinity has one of the longest histories on the liturgical calendar – it has been celebrated for more than 1000 years. And this Christian tradition is a major traditional religious event for the Yoreme Mayo of Southern Sonora and Northern Sinaloa. The festivities begin on the weekend of the Sunday of the Pentecost, which is 50 days after Easter and one week before the Sunday of the Holy Trinity.

Pentecost is celebrated as the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and other followers of Christ in Jerusalem, as they were observing the Feast of Weeks. A peregrination of the faithful begins in the pueblo of El Júpare, Sonora and walks to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Etchojoa, Sonora, Because of this, the weekend activities are also known as the Peregrination of the Holy Spirit of Etchojoa.

On the early Saturday morning of Pentecost weekend, a procession led by matachin dancers followed by a likeness of the Holy Trinity and hundreds of the faithful on foot and on horseback leaves the Church of the Holy Trinity in El Júpare, Sonora.

The procession continues to Huatabampo, where a morning mass is celebrated at 6:00 a.m. Following the mass, the procession continues to the town of Etchojoa, where another mass is held before the fiestas of the Holy Spirit begin.

On Sunday, the caminantes and horse riders begin their return trip to Huatabampo, where they arrive in the afternoon for a mass and a traditional farewell ceremony known as “La Despedida,” where all of the representations of saints that have been borne by the caminantes are brought together to say goodbye before the procession begins the final leg of the Pentecostal weekend peregrination to El Júpare.

The following weekend’s festivities are in El Júpare, where there are fiestas on Saturday and masses on Sunday to celebrate the feast day of the town’s patron saints.