Festivals & Events, November 10, 2006

Excerpted from “The Best of San Miguel de Allende”© by Joseph Harmes. Reprinted with permission. 

November 17-26: Feria Nacional de Lana y el Latón (National Brass and Wool Fair). Actually, a minor crafts fair of mostly touristy artesanía.

November 23-26: Festival de Jazz y Blues (Jazz and Blues Fest). Musicians and fans from Mexico and other countries gather during the same four-day holiday period when Thanksgiving is observed in the United States.

November 20 (Legal Holiday): El Aniversario de la Revolución Mexicana (Anniversary of the Mexican Revolution). Parades and civic events mark the beginning of the Revolution of 1910 and the removal of the dictator Porfirio Díaz from power. His rule led to the revolutionary cry of “effective suffrage, no re-election,” still found today at the foot of many legal and political documents. That accomplished, a second Revolution had to be fought in which Francisco Villa and Emiliano Zapata were leaders. At the same time, the United States government invaded and occupied Veracruz (in retaliation for the brief arrest of several sailors in Tampico a month before) from April to November 1914. Fighting (including another U.S. invasion, this time by Gen. John J. Pershing in 1916) and political unrest continued for the next twenty years.

November 22: Festividad de Santa Cecilia (Feast of St. Cecilia). Because she is known as the patron of the blind and musicians, the day also is known as Musicians’ Day. Anyone with an instrument gathers around midnight outside of El Oratorio de San Felipe Neri for a night-long serenade to the Virgin.