VIDEO: This is how the Michoacan Indians celebrated the start of the New Year Purepecha

This is how the New Year was celebrated in the indigenous communities of Michoacán (Video: EFE)

Indigenous people commemorated this Friday the beginning of the New Year Purepecha with a two-day pilgrimage on wooded and mountainous trails in the state of Michoacán.

The Purépechas, the main ethnic group of Michoacán, Every February 1st, they celebrate a new year by walking with the "Grandfather Fire" between Naranja de Tapia and Coanajo, Michoacán, two indigenous villages of great ancestral tradition.

During the march that marks the beginning of a new year that coincides with the agricultural cycle of the Mexican WestBreaks are planned in various Purépecha communities in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and save the values ​​of their culture.

On the 30th of January, it started at 19h in Naranja de Rapia, through Tirindaro, Barranca Honda, Zinciro, Erongaricuaro, until nightfall in the community of Uricho. The next day, they left at 7 o'clock in the morning to Arocutín, Tocuaro, San Bartolo, Santa Ana Chapitiro, Patzcuaro, to the main destination, Cuanajo, in the municipality of Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.

During the visit, the participants pbad on the knowledge acquired to their familiesso that's why today have managed to recover a lot of information not only about the ceremony, but also about aspects as varied as games, music and historical data, which go back to the pre-Hispanic past.

On the night of February 1, the Purépechas met in the indigenous village of Cuanajo, where they lit the "new fire", which will have to be preserved for 365 days in this community, will be moved in 2020 to Capácuaro, municipality of Uruapan, Michoacán, by a walk similar to that of this year.

Participants are warmed by the "New Fire" to face the cold of the night, while eating and offering prayers.

"Earth my body, sprinkle my blood and ignite my spirit", they whisper during the two days of travel.

The ceremony is dedicated to the god of fire Kurhikuaeri, main deity of Purépechas, ask for abundance in the crops of the new cycle and permission for the fire to cook the food that will give them energy and life.

The New Year Purepecha celebration resurfaced in 1983 after almost 500 years of memory after the Spanish conquest, with the idea of ​​revaluing pre-Hispanic knowledge and cultural roots.