Cowboys Celebrate Closeness to Faith Via Annual Pilgrimage in Mexico Julie Brown Patton - The Gospel Herald
go to original February 16, 2016

Cowboys of all ages made the three-day pilgrimage to a statue of Christ the King in the central state of Guanajuato, Mexico, last month. (Meghan Dhaliwal/The New York Times)

For some cowboys in Mexico, the closest time to get next to God is during an annual, three-day pilgrimage through the central highlands of Guanajuato, which includes making an 84-mile trip to the mountaintop statue of Jesus Christ the King, among the tallest and most sacred in Mexico. More than 3,000 people made this year's journey to a mountaintop statue of Jesus, keeping alive a tradition that began 60-plus years ago.

The experiences of this year's pilgrims were highlighted Sunday by The New York Times, after they journeyed to the mountaintop last month.

Holding banners of Christ the King and the Virgin of Guadalupe, the cowboys carried out the family farming-related tradition, while also taking the time for self-reflection.

Juan Isidro, a farmer who has attended the pilgrimage for eight years, told the Times he fears many of the local traditions are being lost, due to not harvesting food as much as people did the in past. many family farms there have ceased, and construction has blighted the open countryside.

Most of the current pilgrims tend cattle and grow crops on the farms of Guanajuato. The journey is not merely an expression of faith; it anchors them to the past, wrote Paulina Villegas.

A campsite below the 75-foot statue (Meghan Dhaliwal/The New York Times)

Read the rest at The Gospel Herald

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