THE CANDLES OF JUCHITAN.

Among the major cultural traditions are Juchitan "Candles". The important festivals of the people, or "Candles" are celebrations throughout the city. A total of 26 candles, which start in April and end in September, but most is held in May each year. Are parties all night in honor of various saints, including local patron (St. Vincent Ferrer). Originally Candles were a religious celebrations where people spent a sleepless night as a sign of loyalty to his saints. Today there are still clear reminiscences religious celebration, but the festivities have acquired another rationality. Candles serve to strengthen ties between families year after year keep a particular place within the party. Each year, a family volunteers to chair the board of the candle and prepare next year's celebration. Thus, each family invites other families to attend their place or "put" where people are greeted with food, drink and a place to sit and enjoy the music of the night: regional and whole. Attendees should be dressed in the costume gala or otherwise denied entry: the woman should dress costume and man white guayabera and black pants. There are no fees to enter the candle, the woman arrives with his "charity" which is a small contribution to the butler and the man enters with a carton of beer. One of the more traditional dances is the sandunga, and fandango. The main Juchitan candles are San Vicente Goola '(Large), San Vicente Huinii' (boy), fishermen sailing, Sailing San Isidro, Biadxi Sailing, Sailing August Assumption, The Majestic Sailing Pineda, Angelica Pipi Sailing, Sailing Cheguigo '(behind the river). The evening before sailing, they celebrate the "watered", which are parades in which children ride horses and is designated a child-captain that goes along with each other, literally, toys and fruits watering the streets of Juchitan. Although candles are shown in a contemporary culture that is not necessarily sample Zapotec ritual tradition, as the candles emerged relatively recently (nineteenth century). The "didxaza" or Zapotec language (comes closest to the Spanish pronunciation is 'diyaz') is the predominant language in the city. The city is divided into nine sections, the most recent are the second and the third, where the shopping area. Another area of recent development is "The Riviera" and "The Reformation, residential areas inhabited by merchants and regional entrepreneurs. Currently the area" Cheguigo "has expanded territorially and placed as a new area of economic development. Oldest sections are the first (center) and the seventh, where most people speak only Zapoteco.

Another tradition that is kept alive in Juchitan is to visit the cemetery during Holy Week, the days Holy Wednesday in the pantheon of Cheguigo and Palm Sunday in the pantheon of Juchitan. During those days, people who have relatives buried in the cemetery, come to visit their graves while being visited by family, friends or acquaintance, an unusual situation for those dates. Also, during the celebration of Holy Week, the sections that are to Juchitan organized a series of activities known as religious shrines, that under the protection of a patron saint, different for each section, they make small festivals in the streets. Juchitan is the recipient of the rich cultured tradition Zapotec. Parties are typical known as "candles" and sounds like A is for Alpha Rivers, the famous writer Andrs Henestrosa. Recently there has been twinned with Vall de Ux a small town in Spain.