Festivals & Events June 16, 2006

Excerpted from "The Best of San Miguel de Allende"© by Joseph Harmes. Reprinted with permission. See more at www.thebestofsanmigueldeallende.com 

June 18: Festividad de San Antonio de Padua (Feast of St. Anthony of Padua). The preacher and miracle worker is one of the best-known disciples of St. Francis of Assisi. Locally, he ranks second in popularity only to San Miguel Arcángel. A parroquia, a former convent, a neighborhood and one of the town's busiest streets bear his name. Among the most common retablos and statues are those dedicated to Saint Anthony (1195-1231), who lived part of his life, and died, in the city of Padua, Italy. He most often is seen holding the child Jesus in his arms. He is the patron of mariners and fishermen, expectant mothers, animals, American Indians and travelers, among others. The fiesta begins earlier in the month at La Parroquia de San Antonio with a novena (nine days of prayer) and nightly fireworks. The weekend closest to the feast day brings a carnival and, most notably, the Fiesta de los Locos on the Sunday closest to June 13. No one knows when the fiesta began but it originated with masked--and usually intoxicated--farmers who marched through town brandishing branches and tools--simultaneously handing out fruit to bewildered onlookers. Today, in an extravaganza found only in San Miguel de Allende, half the town dresses in wild costumes and the rest line streets to catch the tens of thousands of pieces of candy thrown to (and sometimes at) spectators. Residents of Colonia San Antonio are divided into teams of locos (like Mardi Gras krewes in New Orleans) who save and raise money for the group's candy, march together and concoct hilarious floats. Women adopt the persona of their favorite celebrities. Men often dress as women, animals, disgraced politicians, monsters or the most infamous of the moment like Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush.

June 18: Third Sunday in June: Día del Padre (Father's Day). Not nearly as important as Mother's Day.

June 21: The Summer Solstice. The longest day of the year, the first day of summer.

June 23: Birthday of Ignacio Ramírez "El Nigromante," easily the greatest intellectual San Miguel de Allende ever produced (born 1818 on Umarán 28). His nickname roughly translates as the Magician or Sorcerer. He assisted Mexico's Constitutional Convention of 1856, served on the nation's Supreme Court and composed plays and poetry. A liberal and atheist, he abhorred corrupt politicians and religious hypocrisy. 

June 24: Natividad de San Juan Bautista (birthday of St. John the Baptist). A vigil for the cousin of Jesus (who also baptized Him in the River Jordan) begins the previous night at El Oratorio de San Felipe Neri. He was beheaded at the request of Salome, the daughter of Herodias. His head was brought to her on a platter. The feast observing his decapitation is August 29. One of the town's patron saints. 

June 26: The anniversary of the death of Gen Ignacio Allende y Unzaga at the hands of a firing squad in Chihuahua city in 1811. His head was taken to Guanajuato where it was placed in a cage and displayed with others for ten years at the Alhóndiga de Granaditas (The Corn Palace).

June 27: Festividad de la Virgen del Perpetuo Socorro (Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor). The painting-reproduced by the thousands and sold in shops throughout town-originated in the thirteenth century. Byzantine in style, the paint was applied to wood with a vivid background of gold surrounding the Mother of God, who holds the Christ Child while the Archangels Michael and Gabriel present before him the instruments of His passion. Their names are abbreviated in Greek letters. The celebration begins nine days earlier with prayers and fireworks.

Early July: The traditional pilgrimage honoring El Señor de la Columna leaves El Templo de San Juan de Dios in the early morning and arrives at the Santuario in Atotonilco around noon.