Thousands of ‘Locos’ took to the streets of San Miguel de Allende to celebrate San Pascual Bailón, the patron saint of those who year after year prepare their costumes with devotion and dance to give thanks and pray for good weather.
This Sunday, about 3,000 ‘Locos’ emerged from three points in the city to dance through the main streets of the Historic Center, traditionally throwing sweets to the hundreds of Sanmiguelenses waiting for them.
The devotion to San Pascual Bailón dates back many years when people working in the city’s orchards sought a figure to represent them, and thus the patron of the Eucharist took this place.
The saint’s image was placed among the crops, where children and adults dedicated dances to it while carrying baskets full of the harvest, products that were distributed among the attendees to thank for the good weather.
This is how ‘La danza de los hortelanos’ (The Dance of the Gardeners) emerged, where dancers wore a representative costume consisting of a colorful and floral jumpsuit, a hat with a mirror, black booties, bells, and cardboard masks, dancing to the rhythm of the drum and the chirimía. Years later, this dance became known as ‘Los Locos’.
In San Miguel de Allende, there are four groups of ‘Locos’ known as ‘cuadros’, which honor their patron saint in May; the festivities of San Pascual Bailón extend throughout the municipality, as each group venerates their images in a representative neighborhood of the city to end the celebration with a colorful parade, the Sunday following May 17th, where the ‘cuadros’ leave their neighborhoods and join in the center to take the celebration to the main streets of the city.
The devotion to San Pascual Bailón has spread throughout the municipality due to the tradition of the gardeners, the images that the ‘cuadros’ venerate pilgrimage among the families that make up the group to reach a temple for their celebration, with the ‘Cuadro del Tecolote’ preserving the oldest image in the municipality.
This festival is the origin of the traditional ‘Convite de Locos’, one of the most important and recognized events of the municipality, where for more than 50 years the ‘Cuadro del Parque’, ‘Cuadro Antiguo’, ‘Cuadro Nuevo’, and ‘Cuadro del Tecolote’ gather thousands of Sanmiguelenses to join the party in honor of San Antonio de Padua, which this year will take place on Sunday, June 16th.
Source: Periodico Correo
