Important people born in Álamos

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Katherine supervises a student making a sketch of the church.

Día de la Independencia

Mexican Independence Day is a major celebration in Mexico—much larger than Cinco de Mayo. The celebrating begins on September 15 (the eve of Independence Day) where crowds of people gather in the zocalos of cities, towns, and villages. In Mexico City, when the clock strikes eleven, the huge crowd in the central plaza gets silent; on the last strike of eleven the president of Mexico steps out on the palace balcony, and rings the historic liberty bell that Father Miguel Hidalgo of Dolores rang to call the people to revolt against Spain in the fall of 1810. Then the president gives the “Grito de Delores” he shouts "Viva Mexico," "Viva la independencia," and the crowd echoes back—a ceremony carried out in countless cities and pueblos across Mexico.

The actual Day of Independence, September 16, is similar to July 4th in the U.S. with parades, commuity activities, and grand feasts. The Mexican flag with its green, white, and red is prominently displayed on buildings and in plazas. The green on the left side of the flag symbolizes independence, the white symbolizes religion, and the red on the right side symbolizes union.

Independence Day in Álamos features a vibrant Grito de Independencia ceremony on the evening of September 15th in the Plaza de Armas complete with fireworks, music, and street food. The colonial town celebrates with parades, traditional music, and colorful decorations reflecting a deep sense of national pride.

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Día de los Muertos

From the last few days of October through the first days of November, activity in Álamos and other cities in Southern Sonora is centered around the cemetery. Since crowds will be gathering on November 1 and 2, city workers improve roads leading to the cemetery, provide for parking, and clean the cemetery area to include putting fresh paint on the outside walls.

A few days before November 1 vendors gather at the Plaza Alameda in Álamos selling flowers and other decorations for the graves. Toys and candy in the form of macabre symbols such as skeletons, coffins, and the personification of death (La Muerta) can also be purchased from street vendors. Families bring spades, brooms, and cleaning materials to the graves of their antepasados, and many families gather at night to celebrate the lives of their departed family members and pray for their entrance into heaven. There is often music and singing, and beer and other spirits might also be a part of the celebration.

While the local families clean and beautify the graves, ofdeparted family members, the tumbas of the north Americans buried in the panteón often remain dirty and neglected. The Álamos History Association has identified more than 100 graves of foreign citizens buried in Álamos, and the Association has encouraged its membership to clean and place flowers on as many of these graves as possible. To date, more than one-half of the foreign graves, have family members or sponsors, taking care of them. To gain more information on North Americans buried in Álamos, the following link will be of help: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2475251&CScn=panteon+de+alamos&CScntry=45&

November 1 is often called el Día de los Angelitos since it is believed the souls of all saints—including children—return to the living world on that day, while the souls of all others return on November 2 (el Día de los Muertos). The commemoration ends with a 4 p.m. Mass Nov. 2 in the Álamos panteón, and a video of this celebration made several years ago can be viewed at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrH1GPcHOEI&t=2s

Día de la Virgen de Balvanera

At 4 a.m. each year on November 12, a group of the “faithful” gathers at the la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción in Álamos to begin a procession to the mining community of la Aduana, about seven miles away. The group at the Álamos church is small, but it grows with each mile until several hundred march into la Aduana for the morning Mass at the church where the historic miracle occurred in the 17th Century.

Historically, "Our Lady of Valvanera" is the patron Saint of La Rioja, Spain, represented by a 10th-11th century Romanesque wooden statue discovered in an oak tree by a converted thief named Nuño Oñez. Enshrined in a Benedictine monastery in the Sierra de la Demanda, she is known as the "Virgin of the Oak." When colonists from Spain found silver in the hills near what is now the town of La Aduana, a similar miracle occurred. Miners, searching for gold and silver, saw a woman stranded at the top of a cactus, pleading for help. When they rushed over to rescue her, she had disappeared—but beneath the cactus was a vein of silver that created wealth in Sonora for more than 200 years. The similarities of the Spanish/Mexican miracles led the Spanish colonists to establish a church in honor of "The Lady of Balvanera." Built 50 years before the church in Álamos, the La Aduana temple has a growing cactus with roots in a wall of the church.

The pilgrimage to the La Aduana church has been celebrated for three centuries with thousands of pilgrims coming from Sonora, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua. The date of the celebration was originally in September, but it was changed to November in 1737—since the arroyo connecting Álamos and La Aduana was dry enough for travel in November.

Pilgrims from Álamos to La Aduana on November 12 carry an icon of the Virgin to the La Aduana church to begin the festival, and food, music, and indigenous art performances last until November 21.

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Día de la Revolución

The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 with an uprising led by Francisco Madero against longtime president Porfirio Díaz, and it lasted nearly a decade. Over time the Revolution changed from a revolt against the established order to a multi-sided civil war with frequently shifting power struggles. After prolonged bloodshed, the Revolution produced the Mexican Constitution of 1917 and led to the creation of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), the political party which dominated national elections for more than 80 years.

November 20 is the official day to commemorate the revolution, although in recent years the celebration has been on the third Monday in November. In Álamos there is a ceremony in City Hall, followed by a parade involving many of the school children of the city. The children are dressed in a variety of costumes in the mid-morning parade, with Poncho Villa "look a-likes" quite popular with young boys. As in all Álamos celebrations, food and drinking play a prominent role!

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Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado (FAOT)

The Alfonso Ortiz Tirado International Music Festival began in 1985 as a community activity to celebrate Alfonso Ortiz Tirado, an internationally famous musician (and physician) who was born and baptized here and spent his early years in Álamos. Born January 24, 1893, Ortiz Tirado was known internationally for his performances in classical opera, and also for being an orthopedic surgeon and the personal doctor of artist Frida Kahlo. The festival always encompases his birthday within an eight-day celebration of music—which has in the past featured multiple musical genres and performers from Mexico and around the world. While classical music is emphasized in keeping with Dr. Ortiz Tirado’s speciality as an operatic tenor, the cobblestone streets of Álamos resonate as well with the percussive rhythms of jazz, country, and Latin music during the event. In recent years, as many as 100,000 visitors have come to Alamos for the festival.

The pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 had a profound effect upon the festival. There were no in-person concerts in 2021, and when the festival resumed in 2022 the focus was on Sonora and Mexican musicians rather than performers from abroad. The year 2026 marked the 41st consecutive festival, which began as a small community event to celebrate the first anniversary of the founding of the Álamos museum, El Museo Costumbriste de Sonora.

Concerts begin at noon each day, with the final concert held shortly after midnight. The Noches de Gala evening classical concerts are held in the auditorium of Álamos city hall, and classical music is also featured in concerts at La Purisima church. Stages are assembled in the Plaza Alameda and the Plaza de Armas, and numerous concerts are held in the museum's auditorium and at other Álamos locations. For eight days Álamos is the center of non-stop musical performances!

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Cinco de Mayo

Following the Mexican-American War and the Reform War, Mexico was in financial ruin and suspended interest payments on foreign debt. In response, France, Britain, and Spain occupied Veracruz in 1861, though Britain and Spain soon withdrew. France, under Napoleon III, decided to invade to expand their empire, and on May 5, 1862, around 2,000–5,000 ill-equipped Mexican troops defeated 6,000 well-armed French soldiers at Puebla—a major, unexpected victory, This victory at Puebla became a powerful, lasting symbol of Mexican bravery, resistance, and unity.

The celebration of Cinco de Mayo began in California in the 1860s as Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans displayed their support for the Mexican government of Benito Juárez against the temporary emperor, Maximilian. The celebration grew significantly with the Chicano movement in the 1940s-1970s and became highly commercialized by beer and liquor companies in the 1980s.

Cinco de Mayo activities in Álamos begin with a mid-morning ceremony at City Hall, followed by a parade which features the mayor, city officials, students from all schools in Álamos, and a large number of vaqueros on horseback. During the day there are music performances, and many community events.

University of Sonora concert 2026

"El burgés Gentilhombre"

Nadia Lamadrid

Olymar Salinas

David García, guitarrista

Ariadne Montijo, soprano

María Félix

María Félix, one of the most famous stars of Mexican cinema, was born in the municipio of Álamos, baptized in the local church, and spent her early years on the ranch of her grandparents at Quiriego, on the outskirts of Álamos. While she didn't spend her childhood in Álamos, she visited this community several times over the years as an adult.

María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña was the ninth of 11 children, and her beauty became recognized after he family moved to Guadalajara and she became the “school queen.” She married at 17, began her movie career in Mexico City at 18, and had her only child, Enrique, at 20. In a career spanning more than 30 years, she was a seductive leading lady in many of the most famous films produced in Mexico: “La Mujer sin Alma (1944). “La Devoradora” (1946), and “Enamorada (1948), among many others.

She made movies in France and Spain in addition to Mexico, and Hollywood wanted her as well. She was offered roles in the “Road to” movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, but these roles went to Dolores del Rio when "La Doña" decided not to make movies in English. Her last film was “La Generala” in 1966, although she worked in television in the 1970s. Her son died in 1996, but María Félix reached the age of 88 before passing away in 2002.

There has been controversy about whether she was actually born in the pueblo of Álamos since we have baptismal records but no birth certificate, yet Álamos cronista Juan Carlos Holguín Balderrama makes a strong case for a pueblo mágico birth in his essay ”María Félix: ¿Álamos o Quiriego?” which is incluided (both in English and Spanish) as Addendum #1) later on this page.

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