For more than a week, San Miguelians have been parading and dancing nightly in celebration of the Feast of Saint Michael. When it’s your namesake, you go all out. Right?
And on the last day, you put it all together in the “Grand Desfile de Danzas Locales y Foraneas” — the Grand Parade of Local and Foreign Dances.
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Celebrations are breaking out all over San Miguel this week. Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, the Red Cross anniversary, the religious Celebration of the Cross, and even the Locos/Crazies begin to honor their patron saint.
Or, you could just go bird-watching. There is that.
I’m guessing the performance of the week will be pianist Théo Fouchenneret and the deal of the week will be The Rondalla Señorial of the University of Guanajuato (free). The most poignant performances will be by the many wonderful musicians coming together to remember their comrade Tony Duncan.
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I tried my idea for global peace on a few people in the crowd today as we waited for the Exploding Judases to commence.
“What if all across the United States people had a day like this where you could hang effigies of your enemies and other bad people — and watch as they were blown to bits?”
“Just think of the catharsis!”
How to begin to describe the strange looks that I got. …
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They did it. The Loco marched, danced, walked, twirled, teased, sweated, tossed candy and rubber balls, waved, smiled, and consumed copious amounts of water and electrolyte drinks on Sunday morning.
And the thousands lining both sides of many downtown San Miguel de Allende streets loved every hot and sticky, broiling, joyous moment of the Contvite de Locos.
What an incredible day.
The city estimates that 130,000 people were in San Miguel for the parade, of whom 5,300 were Locos marching in the parade. Only 43 people required medical attention for heat, falling, tripping, or other maladies. Four individuals were arrested during this very family-oriented festivity.
It is worth noting that the city staffed a number of “hydration stations” along the parade route for marchers and watchers.
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Well, this explains so many things: Anthony de Padua is the patron saint of the insane.
Now the Dia de Locos — or Convite de Locos — isn’t so crazy after all.
Well, yes, it is. Crazy, I mean. Very very crazy. In so many delightful ways.
What better way to honor the patron saint of people who have lost their minds than to assemble thousands of people in costumes that suggest they, too, have indeed lost their minds?
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Happy 254th birthday, Don Ignacio de Allende y Unzaga, Lieutenant Colonel of the Insurgent Army and hero of the revolution.
San Miguel de Allende, named in part after its favorite son, has been celebrating all week with music, cultural dances, and more — and today, the annual parade which is a most interesting merger of military might and marching school children. The parade also celebrates first responders, marching bands, the conservation corps, civic leaders, beauty queens, and equestrians.
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I’ve said it before: You want magic in San Miguel de Allende? Then just step out your front door.
Today, it was the arrival of the procession honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. The cavalcade of the holy and horses turned onto Callejon San Antonio at noon sharp and proceeded to walk in stops and starts toward the Parroquia de San Antonio de Padua.
Progress was halting because there were hundreds of people attempting to fill the already busy square for the celebration of the Mass.
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After a long night of parading, doing battle with the Devil, blowing off fireworks, celebrating the city’s namesake, and just all-around old-fashioned shoulder-rubbing with neighbors — what do San Miguelenses like to do the next day?
Parade some more.
Of course.
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I thought the day began at 5:30 a.m. with a massively loud fusillade of fireworks from the Parroquia de San Antonio grounds, about a block away from my home in Colonia San Antonio. That’s what sent me upright in my bed and nearly over the side.
The explosions kept up every 10 minutes or so for the next couple of hours.
My friend Bob Cooksey, who lives directly across the street from the church, says the celebration began an hour earlier with a 30-piece marching band heading out from the church grounds and down the street in front of his home.
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Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 