Inaugural event of the Guelaguetza in Madera. What you need to know about ‘Vive la Guelaguetza’
.JPG "Mixtecos Unidos recently performed with La Danza de los Diablos at the ninth Día de los Muertos celebration hosted by Kings Cultural Center on Oct. 23 in the city of Armona in Kings County.")
The ultimate expression of the Oaxacan people, the Guelaguetza, is coming to Madera County for the first time this year.
The idea of holding the Guelaguetza in the city of Madera has been in talks for some time, said Minerva Mendoza, president of the Comité Guelaguetza Madera, composed of members of the Oaxacan community in Madera.
However, it was until this year that the committee met in March to get the ball rolling and start working on making the cultural event a reality in Madera.
“Madera is a big city, full of Oaxacans for the most part,” Mendoza said.
The event, “Vive la Guelaguetza,” which includes traditional dances, food and music will take place on Sunday, Oct. 8, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Rotary Sports Complex, 1901 Clinton Street.
Although this year is the inaugural Guelaguetza Madera event, Mendoza said the committee’s dream is for it to become an annual event.
Mendoza said the committee expects approximately 1,500 people to attend the event that day which will feature Ballet Folklorico El Valle de St. Helena and Mixtecos Unidos de Madera with La Danza de los Diablos and La Danza de los Rubios among other groups.
Bringing a new cultural event to the Madera community can have some challenges to the group of community volunteers.
“I think the biggest challenge has been fundraising,” Mendoza said, adding that the committee has organized several food sales.
Mendoza said the committee, whose mission is to preserve Oaxacan culture, decided to celebrate the Guelaguetza in early October, since it takes place near the ‘Indigenous Peoples Day’ holiday in the United States.
“It’s one more step of recognizing and promoting our culture,” Mendoza said. “We are very excited.”
Guelaguetzas en el Valle Central
Mendoza said the Madera Guelaguetza Committee has no association with El Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño, an organization that began holding the Fresno Guelaguetza in 1999, or other organizations and is comprised solely of volunteers.
For more than two decades, the annual Guelaguetza Fresno event has been organized by El Centro Binacional (CBDIO), the Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB) and the Comité Organizador de la Guelaguetza.
In 2022, Guelaguetza Fresno returned again to Calwa Park after two years of the event being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The grand event has been held in Fresno for 22 years with a mission to promote cultural richness and preserve the languages, music, food and dances of the millennial heritage of the Central Valley’s indigenous Oaxacan communities.
Guelaguetza Fresno 2023 will take place on Sunday, September 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Calwa Park, 4545 E Church Avenue in Fresno.
Although Guelaguetza Fresno has been taking place for more than two decades, Mendoza said that because Madera is home to many indigenous Oaxacan communities, the committee “believes Madera needs its own Guelaguetza.”
Mendoza said that also because many families are sometimes unable to go to the Fresno Guelaguetza for transportation reasons, it was important to “bring a little bit of Oaxaca to them here.”
Mendoza said that in addition to the Fresno Guelaguetza, the Sonoma County Guelaguetza 2023 recently took place on Sunday, July 16, in Santa Rosa organized by the Oaxaca Tierra del Sol organization based in Healdsburg in Northern California.
The city of Bakersfield also has a Guelaguetza event in September, Mendoza said.
This story was originally published July 25, 2023 at 12:58 PM.
