Celebran hoy su santo Rodrigo, Simón, Leticia, Joaquín, Alfredo, Judas Tadeo, Fidel y Leonardo.
Today we celebrate ...
A few tidbits about a few of these saints.
San Rodrigo martir lived in Córdoba in what is now Spain in the ninth century when it was under Muslim rule. He died in 895. From the pueblo of Cabra, he studied there to be a priest and was so ordained. His brother, a fanatical Muslim, reportedly attacked him and a fellow Christian and reported them to Muslim authorities. They were said to have been killed for their refusal to convert and thrown in a river. Later, the story goes, his body was discovered miraculously whole.
San Simon y San Judas Tadeo are celebrated together in the Catholic Church. They occur frequently in the New Testament. San Judas Tadeo (not Judas Iscariot) is considered a particularly favorable saint to ask to intercede with God.
Very little is known about Santa Leticia. Ayerbe en Arragón in Spain is noted for their celebrations in her honor. Here is a photo, from Wikipedia, of a nice carving of Leticia.
People are fond of saying that every day is a fiesta day in Mexico. Hardly an overstatement. El Universal, the Mexican daily, publishes a list such as the one above every day of the year. Many of the saints are patron saints of a pueblo or pueblito somewhere in the country. On their feast days, the pueblos have celebrations, some only religious, some more, and put an arco in front of their parish church.