Overview
This year’s celebration featured Oaxacan foods, folklórico performances, and handcrafts, with free admission made possible by an arts and culture grant funded through Measure P.
Hundreds of Fresnans gathered for the 24th annual Guelaguetza festival, a celebration of Oaxacan regional culture rooted in the traditions of Oaxaca.
The Guelaguetza, which means “offering” in Zapotec—an Indigenous language spoken by the Zapotec people of Oaxaca—is an event that showcases the cultural expressions of Indigenous communities from the state of Oaxaca.
This year, The Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities (CBDIO), who organizes the annual celebration, received a $56,466.00 Expanded Access to Arts and Culture grant, funded by Measure P and administered by the Fresno Arts Council.
The majority of the grant was allocated to free admission, pay for the performers, and other services the organizations were offered at the event.
In an interview with Fresnoland, Gregorio Matiaz, a Guelaguetza committee member with CBDIO, explained that the organization made a significant effort to inform the community that the event was free, marking the first time this was made possible.
“We’ve made an effort to let the community know the event is free because we want them to attend,” said Matiaz. “If they’re from Oaxaca, they can experience a piece of what they left behind when they came to the U.S., but also, to U.S. citizens who have never experienced the Oaxaca culture, the food that we have, which is very traditional and different from amongst all the states in Oaxaca.”
Artists and vendors offered a variety of traditional clothing, beaded jewelry, colorful serape blankets, and unique hand-crafted artworks. Attendees enjoyed Oaxacan dishes, including Tlayudas, memelas, empanada de amarillo, mole, tamales, tejate, aguas frescas, and more.
Matiaz said that in the Oaxaca region, different areas have distinct traditions, foods, and crops. Each region consumes different things and follows its own customs.
“The purpose of coming together is to share—not just the food, but the traditions and values unique to each region,” said Matiaz. “We wanted to bring that Oaxaca spirit to the Valley because there’s a large number of community members from Oaxaca, including Mixtec and Triqui communities, among others. It’s a way for them to come together and share, just as our ancestors did in Oaxaca before colonization.”
Matiaz joined the Guelaguetza committee this year in an effort to “share and connect more with my origins and culture, especially because in this area, there’s not a lot of people from my town.”
Judith Martinez, project coordinator with CBDIO, shared that this is her second time helping to coordinate the event. Martinez, who grew up in the U.S., explained that she never felt connected to her culture until she recognized how large the Oaxacan community is in Fresno.
“We want to keep promoting the unity of the indigenous communities, and to use the culture and language as a tool that keeps them engaged with retention of their culture and language,” said Martinez. “It helps us strengthen and showcase the diverse, rich diversity that the city has, and help strengthen the connection with indigenous people and other people that are going to come and learn about our culture.”
This year marked the 24th anniversary that CBDIO, the Indigenous Front of Binational Organizations, and the community-led Guelaguetza Organizing Committee organized the event in Fresno.
CBDIO first began celebrating the Guelaguetza locally on the last Sunday of September in 1999. The organizing committee chose to hold the event in September, rather than in July as it is traditionally celebrated in Mexico, to avoid Central Valley’s intense summer heat.
This year, the event showcased 20 different performances from groups including Grupo Folklórico Huaxyacac, Grupo Folklórico del Valle de Santa Helena, Danza de los Diablos Mixtecos Unidos, and Danza de los Rubios de Llano Verde.
Sones and chilenas were performed by the Maqueos Band, Brillo de San Miguel Cuevas Band and traditional music with violin and jarana.
About halfway through the performances, CBDIO distributed certificates of recognition to performers and community members who contributed to the success of the Guelaguetza celebration and helped preserve Oaxaca’s culture.
Mixtecos Unidos, a group whose members are from the Mixteca region of Oaxaca, closed out the Fresno Guelaguetza celebration with the Danza de los Diablo, a traditional dance celebrated in the coastal areas of Guerrero and Oaxaca, marking their tenth year performing.
Samuel Dolores, the director of the Mixtecos Unidos group, accepted the award on the group’s behalf and has been performing with them for three years. The 35-member group wears hand-carved wooden masks, some adorned with real goat horns, along with boots, jackets, formal shirts, and either a tie or a silk scarf.
“It’s an honor to share this with our communities and ask everyone to come dance with us,” said Dolores.
Around 11 local organizations were present to distribute information to the community about labor rights, legal rights, health and more.
The list includes the Central California Environmental Justice Network, Centro La Familia, California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, Mariposa Community Outreach and Public Affairs, and Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries, among others.
Children were able to get a library card and some free books from the Fresno County Public Library. Arte Americas also had art making activities for families.
A Guelaguetza celebration is set to take place in Madera on Oct. 13 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This marks the second annual event organized by the Comité Guelaguetza Madera.
