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The Guelaguetza, the Oaxacan festival that features dances and dress celebrating deep-rooted traditions and diversity, is back in Santa Rosa, with its showcase of cherished Mexican culture set for Sunday, July 12, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
The term Guelaguetza is derived from the Zapotec language, meaning a “gift” or an “offering,” and the festival celebrates harmony among the eight regions of the state of Oaxaca: Los Valles Centrales, La Sierra Juárez, La Cañada, Tuxtepec, La Mixteca, La Costa, and El Istmo de Tehuantepec.
All the dances are regional and deeply personal to the performers. Felix Ortiz, the long-time event organizer, said the dancers are either born in or are descendants of a specific region through their parents or grandparents, carrying on the tradition of the Mexican “pueblos originarios,” or native people.
“It’s not just folklore they learned; it’s in their blood,” he said. “It’s something truly beautiful.”
The Guelaguetza event, organized by the local nonprofit Oaxaca in Wine Country, has moved between several locations in Santa Rosa over the years: from a vacant lot on Millbrae Avenue, to Elsie Allen High School, to Roseland, before spending nine years at Old Courthouse Square.
This is the first time the festival will be held at the Mexican Village inside the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. Ortiz said he expects the new venue to attract the same large crowds that have been drawn to the downtown venue.
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Erik Castro / For The Press Democrat
Dancers performing Flor de Piña during the Guelaguetza festival held at Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa on Sunday, July 7, 2024. (Erik Castro / For The Press Democrat)
Erik Castro / For The Press Democrat
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Dancers performing Flor de Piña during the Guelaguetza festival held at Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa on Sunday, July 7, 2024. (Erik Castro / For The Press Democrat)
The choreographer for Sunday’s event is artistic director Yolanda Giron, once a performer herself at a landmark festival in Mexico.
“She has helped us for years. She has danced at the Rotonda de la Azucena,” he said, in reference to the iconic, open-air amphitheater that serves as the main venue atop Cerro del Fortín in central Oaxaca.
Ortiz said the “convite,” the opening parade featuring dancers representing their respective regions, will begin around 11:30 a.m. He noted that la Danza de la Pluma (Dance of the Feather) is his personal favorite because it represents his home region of Los Valles Centrales.
According to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, this ritual dance enacts the Spanish conquest of Mexico from an Indigenous perspective, carrying profound religious and political significance.
Additionally, two Los Angeles-based groups — the Maqueos Music Academy philharmonic band and the Ballet Folklórico Nueva Antequera — will perform at the event.
As in previous years, La Guelaguetza will exclusively showcase Oaxacan cuisine.
Ortiz listed regional specialties including memelitas, molotes, freshly made ice cream, and tejate, a pre-Hispanic beverage handcrafted from a base of toasted corn, cacao, and mamey sapote seeds. Alcoholic beverages, including Oaxacan mezcal, will also be available at the fairground bars.
Admission to the event is free.
A second Guelaguetza festival, organized by the local group Guelaguetza Oaxaca Tierra del Sol, will be held on Sunday, July 19, at the new Foley Family Community Pavilion in Healdsburg, which hosted its first community events this past spring.
Organizer Gabriel Martinez said La Guelaguetza serves as an inspiration for the local Latino community.
“Working people can proudly express their identity,” Martinez said. “Not as a marketing product, but as something deeply rooted in their blood and soul.”
Raquel Issenberg covers Latino business for the North Bay Business Journal and is the editor of La Prensa Sonoma. She can be reached at raquel.issenberg@pressdemocrat.com.
