Querétaro is full of traditions and customs that are preserved over the years, but perhaps there is not one that is celebrated with as much enthusiasm as the one that is carried out in the name of San Miguel Arcángel in the town of San Miguel Tolimán and that culminates with the uprising of Chimal.
This structure is made with scales of sotol stems from the region, it is strengthened with wire and decorated by the community with natural products that the semi-desert offers them such as fruits, vegetables, stems, leaves, flowers and seeds. While the women, children and men form chains with their offerings to hang throughout the length and breadth of the Chimal and give thanks for what the earth gives them, a millenary prayer is heard at the four points (north, south, east and west) a prayer to recognize the abundance with which San Miguel Tolimán has been blessed.
The protagonists of the celebration: Cargo ships and dance crews
To carry and lift the Chimal (which in Nahuatl means "shield") requires more than 200 men who days before voluntarily present themselves to fulfill this task. These men, proud to participate in the party in which their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandparents also participated, bless the offering with incense before it is raised and sprinkle it with brandy and alcohol to "give it strength" and help the structure to be placed where it should go without setbacks.
This spiritual festival would not be complete without music and dance, so the dance groups become a key piece. These groups represent the different neighborhoods of the municipality of Tolimán and are made up of children dressed in capes that read "Who is like God?", red and blue suits, with crowns made of paper, plastic and cardboard, maracas and swords. Their verses and songs make up the soul and identity of this community and are taught from generation to generation.
Thus, every September 27, Querétaro can witness what faith looks like. Of a celebration in which each of the ancestral components is respected and of which an entire community is part and is proud to do so. An afternoon with the aroma of incense and copal in which, between laughter, food, pulque, music and prayer, the Chimal rises so that having Saint Michael the Archangel as a messenger, God receives the message of gratitude from this town of the semi-desert of Querétaro.
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