On Sunday, May 19th, nearly 3,000 crazy people came out from three points in the city to dance through the main streets in the name of San Pascual Bailón.
Thousands of Locos took to the streets of San Miguel de Allende to celebrate San Pascual Bailón, patron saint of those who year after year prepare their costumes with devotion and go out to dance to thank and ask for a good rainy season.
On Sunday, May 19, about 3,000 people came out from three points in the city to dance along the main streets of the Historic Center. As is tradition, during the tour they threw candy to the hundreds of San Miguel residents who were waiting for them to pass by.
The image of the saint known as San Pascual Bailón was placed among the crops, where children and adults dedicated dances to him while carrying baskets full of the harvest, products that were distributed among those attending to give thanks for the good weather.
This is how ‘The Dance of the Gardeners’ emerged, who danced with a representative costume consisting of a colorful and flowered romper, a hat with a mirror, black boots, bells, and cardboard masks, dancing to the rhythm of the drum and the shawm. Years later this dance began to be known as ‘Los Locos’.
In San Miguel de Allende there are four groups of Locos known as “the painted ones”, which in May honor their patron saint; San Pascual Bailón festivities extend throughout the municipality since each group venerates their images in a representative neighborhood of the city to end the festival with a colorful tour, on the Sunday following May 17, where the painted ones come out of their neighborhoods and come together in the center to bring the celebration to the main streets of the city.
The devotion to San Pascual Bailón has spread in the municipality due to the tradition of the gardeners, the images that the paintings venerate make pilgrimages among the families that make up the group to reach a temple for their celebration, with the Tecolote Painting being the one that preserves the oldest image that exists in the municipality.
This festival is the origin of the traditional Convite de Locos, one of the most important and recognized events in the municipality, where for more than 50 years the Cuadro del Parque, Cuadro Antiguo, Cuadro Nuevo, and Cuadro del Tecolote have brought together thousands of San Miguel residents to join the party in honor of San Antonio de Padua, which this year will take place on Sunday, June 16.
San Miguel Times
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