San Juan de los Lagos

San Juan de los Lagos is the town that grew up around a small image of the Virgin Mary, about 38 centimeters tall and made of cane paste, that has drawn pilgrims since the 1600s. It is the second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico after the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, with millions of visitors a year, and Lagos de Moreno, 45 kilometers to the east, is its natural neighbor.

The devotion began with a miracle attributed to the image in the early 17th century, when a young acrobat who had died in a fall was said to have revived after local women prayed over her with it. Offerings from pilgrims paid for ever larger churches, and the present cathedral-basilica, built of pink sandstone with two slender baroque towers, was begun in 1732. It became a basilica in 1947 and a cathedral in 1972, and Pope John Paul II visited it in 1990.

The town lives from its visitors. The streets around the main square are lined with stalls selling rosaries, candles, embroidered clothing and local sweets, especially cajeta and other milk candies from the dairy country of Los Altos. The busiest season is around Candlemas, from late January to February 2, when the crowds spill out of the basilica into the streets.