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Huatulco, San Miguel de Allende

Jewish Pilgrimage Festivals in Mexico

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By Marcia Chaiken and Jan Chaiken—

Among the many pilgrimages that occur in Mexico, probably the ones with the oldest historical foundations are some Jewish observances. Known in Hebrew as the Shalosh Regalim, the “three pilgrimage festivals,” the observance of these ancient practices was carried here by Jews who accompanied the Spanish conquistadors. They were practiced in secret, since the Spanish Inquisition imposed the death penalty on those who carried out Jewish observances.

Historically, the three Jewish pilgrimages occurred in the land of Israel during times when Temples existed in Jerusalem: Solomon’s Temple, between the 10th and 6th centuries BCE, and the Second Temple, between 538 BCE and 70 CE.

Three times each year, marking the beginning of the spring barley harvest, the beginning of the summer wheat harvest, and the end of the annual fall harvests, Jewish law, as written in the Torah (Jewish scriptures), commanded that members of the twelve tribes of Israel travel from their home territories, largely by foot, up to the Temple in Jerusalem carrying specific offerings.

The three pilgrimages were known by names that are still used around the world, including in Mexico today. The spring harvest pilgrimage was also known as Passover (Pesaj); the beginning of the summer pilgrimage, Shavuot; and the fall pilgrimage, Sukkot, or the Feast of Booths (Cabañuelas).

In addition to offerings of the choicest of the harvest, each of the pilgrimages required sacrifices of animals brought by the pilgrims to the priests at the Temple. The Passover sacrifice was a one-year-old unblemished male lamb. The lamb was a reminder of the sacrifice of a lamb and shared meal that took place about 3,300 years ago on the night before the Israelite slaves were freed in Egypt and began their long journey toward the Promised Land.

Shavuot involved offerings of first fruits and loaves of bread baked from the choicest early wheat, along with a diverse selection of domesticated animals. Once again, the animals were chosen from the best of the herds and flocks and examined to ensure the absence of any blemish. These sacrifices reenacted the ceremonial offerings that, according to the Torah, took place at the foot of Mount Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites.

The most noteworthy animal sacrifice for Sukkot entailed seventy bulls offered over the seven days of the pilgrimage festival. Temple rites for Sukkot also involved a far less bloody ceremony: the water ceremony. Pilgrims lined the path the priests followed from the Temple down to a pool of water at the bottom of the Temple Mount.

As the priests descended to fill their ceremonial bowls and climbed back up to the Temple, the pilgrims sang and danced in joy. They continued singing and dancing as the priests poured the water, together with wine, over the Temple altar, assuring all that there would be sufficient rain to produce abundant crops in the following year.

Pilgrimage to Jerusalem came to an end in 70 CE when the Roman army besieged the Temple Mount, almost completely destroyed the Temple, leaving only the Western Wall standing, killed a large portion of the Jewish population in the Holy Land, and sent thousands more into exile. With the destruction of the Temple and the end of priestly sacrifice, it fell to the rabbis to decide how Judaism could continue without pilgrimages to the Temple Mount or flesh-and-blood offerings. The discussions and debates that followed were recorded for posterity. Although physical pilgrimage ceased, the rabbis continued to refer to the festivals as the Shalosh Regalim, and each holiday remained a hag, the Hebrew word for pilgrimage, linguistically related to the Arabic hajj.

Since the end of the Inquisition in Mexico in 1820 and Mexico’s independence from Spain shortly thereafter, the Shalosh Regalim have been openly practiced by observant (and not so observant) Jews. Passover seders, often large family and community gatherings, retell the story of the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. On the seder table, along with other symbolic foods, is a shank bone, a reminder of the original sacrificial lamb. On Shavuot, meals traditionally include grains and fruits reminiscent of those once harvested and brought to the Temple. On Sukkot, ceremonies involve four species of ancient plants. A bundle of willow, palm, and myrtle, called the lulav, when shaken produces a sound likened to falling rain. Although the water ceremony exists only in memory, Jews still sing and dance as they shake the lulav and pray for a year of sufficient rain to foster the coming crops.

As the hag of Passover ends, those gathered for seders often call out in Spanish, “Este año estamos aquí; el próximo año, en Jerusalén.” (“This year we are here; next year, in Jerusalem.”)

2026 Festival Dates
Passover begins on the evening of Wednesday, April 1, 2026, and concludes Thursday, April 9, 2026

Shavuot begins on the evening of Thursday, May 21, 2026, and concludes Saturday, May 23, 2026

Sukkot begins on the evening of Friday, September 25, 2026, and concludes Friday, October 2, 2026.

Drs. Marcia and Jan Chaiken have been married for 62 years and have published many justice system research reports together.

Huatulco

Jewish Stories

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Marcia Chaiken and Jan Chaiken

Have you ever wondered why so many well-known writers, including Nobel Prize winners, are Jewish? From Isaac Asimov through Franz Kafka, Lillian Hellman, Emma Lazarus and J.D. Salinger to Elie Wiesel, to name a few, hundreds of Jewish authors have challenged our imaginations and shaped the course of literature. What is it about being Jewish that stimulates the creative impulse to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and pour out captivating tales? One answer may be that Jews are steeped in stories – stories that are thousands or at least hundreds of years old and passed on from generation to generation.

The primary source of these stories is the Hebrew Scriptures, which Christians generally refer to as “the old testament.” Jews refer to the first parts of these scriptures as the Torah, or the five books of Moses. The first book alone includes two creation stories, stories about the first humans, the flood that destroyed everyone except for Noah and his clan, the first generations of Hebrews headed by Abraham and Sarah, then Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and his wives (Leah and Rachel) and his concubines who gave birth to the twelve tribes of Israel. The second book is packed with stories about the Israelites becoming slaves in Egypt, their rescue with the leadership of Moses and his sister Miriam, and Mount Sinai where the ten commandments were received.

The whole collection of Hebrew scriptures is called the Tanakh. Included are the well-known stories of Jonah and the whale, the tragedy of Job, the lovely story of Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi, the tale of the love between David and Jonathan, the story of brave Queen Esther who saved the Jews in Persia from being killed by the wicked Haman, and scores of other stories less well known among people who aren’t Jewish. Some of these stories are grim and grisly – stuff of which nightmares are made. Others are inspiring, some championing the rights of women. And there are others that are beautiful stories of erotic yearning.

Many Jews are raised on the stories from Tanakh, often from the beginning of their lives – the day they are born. Jewish children usually are given two names; one a popular name in the country in which they are born and the other a Hebrew name borne by a late relative – the latter is generally drawn from the Hebrew Scriptures. The first stories Jewish children generally hear, in addition to The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, are Bible stories about their biblical namesake, the person who bore their name in the Tanakh. The stories become deeply personified. Children named David know they are meant to be musicians and kings. Children named Rebecca love to hear how they were recognized for their kind acts. And little girls named Esther enjoy parading around with a crown acting brave.

Jewish children have been told stories from Tanakh for millennia and given beautifully illustrated books of these stories. The 20th century saw the addition of baby board books and easy reader books with brightly drawn short Bible stories. And stuffed toys such as a Noah’s ark and a little plush replica of a Torah introduce wee ones to stories as they hug them close. Traditionally, at age three Jewish children begin to learn how to read Torah themselves. A piece of honey is placed on the first word to learn; and when the child sucks on the honey while learning to read the letter, the sweet taste of honey becomes synonymous with the sweet taste of learning the stories in Torah.

Stories from Tanakh have for thousands of years stimulated other stories by being embellished. Spin-off stories written by rabbis and scholars have been collected in books called Midrash. Each major character in Tanakh has generated dozens of stories that help flesh out and provide insights into their personalities and motivations for their actions. Abraham is depicted as a child willfully destroying the idols in his home. Sarah is described as one of the most beautiful women in the world even in old age. And Moses as a shepherd, it is told, showed such great compassion for a little lost lamb that he was chosen as the leader to guide the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.

Many Jewish children learn these elaborated stories along with the Biblical versions. And when they attend Sunday School or Hebrew School classes, they are encouraged to create their own interpretations of these stories. It is common to see preschoolers or those in the earliest grades of primary school proudly bringing home stories they have written about a character in a Torah story – their letters can be irregular, their words misspelled, and their sentences ungrammatical – but just as midrash written millennia ago is prized, so are these early efforts.

Older children and teens are often encouraged to write their own plays or music based on stories from tanakh and midrash. This creativity, continued into adulthood, has produced innumerable TV programs, movies, novels, poetry, and musical scores, not necessarily on Jewish or religious themes.

So, consider how much of current culture, including magazine articles, is founded on children learning stories.