Amid candles, music, and abundant alcohol, thousands of devotees celebrated San Simón on Monday in an indigenous town in Guatemala. San Simón is a popular saint to whom drug traffickers, prostitutes, migrants, and merchants pray. His followers ask for favors in love, health, or business and celebrate his “birthday” every October 28, when thousands make a pilgrimage to a temple erected in his honor in the indigenous Maya Kaqchikel town of San Andrés Itzapa, 35 km west of the capital.
“He has saved me from death and accidents. He has kept me from all harm,” said Otto Rivera, a 52-year-old musician, adding that everything he has achieved in life, he owes to San Simón. “He has given me work, money, health, love, and prosperity,” added Rivera, known as “El Charro.” San Simón, or “Monchito,” is the product of a religious syncretism between Christian and indigenous traditions, but he is not recognized by the Catholic Church.
The temple resembles a chapel. Worshippers file past an image of the saint on the main altar, where he is depicted sitting in a wooden chair, surrounded by money, beer bottles, and liquor. His face has a blank expression with a thick mustache. “He is a saint who doesn’t discriminate by color, age, religion, or sexuality,” said Andrés Morales, 21, who visits the temple once a month. The temple walls are covered with thousands of plaques in thanks for favors received, many from migrants who reached the United States after entrusting themselves to San Simón.
The saint is dressed in a dark modern suit and a black hat. Inside and outside the temple—visited by devotees from other Central American countries and Mexico—spiritual guides perform “cleansings” using herbs, cigar smoke, and splashes of alcoholic beverages on the faithful, while music groups add harmony to the celebration.
A woman, who gave only her name as Patty, shared that she has been devoted to him since she was a “baby,” worshiping him for 49 years. “We love him, cherish him, respect him. Long live San Simón!” she said with excitement.
