San Miguel fiestas and events
Excerpted from "The Best of San Miguel de Allende"© by Joseph Harmes. Reprinted with permission.
Photos by Robert de Gast

March 17: Día de San Patricio (St. Patrick's Day). The so-called Celtic Festival comprises another multi-purpose celebration. At La Parroquia, where a statue of St. Patrick can be found, the air is considered saintly. Bars enjoy a big payday but, thankfully, do not serve green beer. While celebrating St. Patrick, Mexico also salutes the Irish, in particular los San Patricios (the St. Patrick's Battalion), an arm of the Mexican Army during the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. The "Irish Martyrs" originally joined the U.S. forces of Gen. Zachary Taylor to invade Mexico in the so-called war of Manifest Destiny. Dismayed at fighting a Catholic country, coupled by mistreatment by their Anglo-Protestant officers, hundreds deserted. The battalion suffered heavy losses at the Battle of Churubusco in 1847 where 83 were captured: 72 of them court-martialed and 50 executed (16 were hanged for treason by order of Gen. Winfield Scott).

March 17: On the Friday prior to March 20 youngsters dress in animal costumes (many little girls adorn butterfly wings) and parade around El Jardín.

 
March 19: Festividad de San José (St. Joseph's Day). Hundreds of statues of San José from throughout town converge on La Capilla de San José the night before. Amid fireworks and dancers, a procession winds through the streets to El Oratorio de San Felipe Neri where a special Mass is said for Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary. One of the town's patron saints.

March 20: The Vernal Equinox. The sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west. Every place on earth experiences a 12-hour day.

March 21 (Legal Holiday): Nacimiento de Benito Juárez (Birthday of Benito Juárez). The first president of modern Mexico.

March or April: Celebraciones y Ritos de la Pascua (Easter Celebrations and Rites, a moveable holiday). While the events of September (the Fiestas Patrias, the Sanmiguelada and the Feast of San Miguel Arcángel) constitute the loudest--and the most profane--events on the town's calendar, the two weeks prior to Easter are its most colorful, solemn and holiest. Many of the traditions date to San Miguel de Allende's earliest origins.

The glorious processions and pageants illustrate the true essence of this deeply religious town.