The Candelaria Fair 2023 is coming in San Miguel de Allende

Published January 27, 2023

By Rodrigo Díaz Guerrero

It is said that this tradition has more than a hundred years in our city, and that it was called “The Festival of Flowers”, where in streets and temples (later in the portals of the main garden), people gathered to exchange plants on the day of Candlemas.

Rooted in the custom, for 67 years the Candlemas Fair has grown and, at the same time, preserved its natural spirit. Two weeks in which, in addition to the sale of plants, flowers, pots, soil, fertilizers, etc., of nurseries and exhibitors from different parts of the country, cultural and artistic events are held, such as regional music concerts, staging and presentations of dance groups, by local talent and guest groups from other states of the Republic.

But one of the things that has more relevance for those who are part of the Candelaria Fair – and that is an indisputable reason for its existence – is the religious component, the vigil event: from the night of the first of February to the early morning of day two, groups of concheros coming from various latitudes of the state, Moved by spiritual conviction, they arrive at Benito Juárez Park (headquarters par excellence), with songs, jaranas, copales and various materials with which they will make, until the sun rises, the beautiful suchiles – altarpieces made, predominantly, of spoon (regional plant) – that are placed on and around the cross of the park, as a religious offering.

The Vigil is also an event in which attendees perform a ceremony of thanksgiving and veneration with songs and praises, rituals and prayers to the Holy Cross and the Virgin of Candelaria. An evening where Mexican syncretism is lived at its best: the smell of copal, the sound of ancestral songs, the weaving of altarpieces by expert hands, green, red, sweet tamales, atole that is served and drunk to warm the body, make whoever witnesses the events of these activities that remain alien to many, Feel swept away by the gale of times and history, of the richness of a tradition that must be admired and cared for, because it is part of our identity as Mexicans.

And the day continues: the next morning, after the traditional mass in the parish of San Antonio, the exhibitors perform the ceremony of blessing plants and seeds, to predict a good harvest as soon as spring begins along with the work of the field. There is the presence of the company of the concheros of the Valley of the Corn, who execute the pre-Hispanic dances, and with the participation of delegates from different invited communities.

This 67th edition of the Candelaria Fair will take place from the first to the 15th of February, and will be an inevitable magnet for hundreds of people to arrive attracted by the wide range of plants, flowers and gardening supplies – which is indeed something unmissable – and by the cultural and artistic program offered on the stages that rise for the occasion. But in these lines, in addition to this, we urge the reader to penetrate the bowels of the Fair, to witness the vigil, and participate in a centuries-old tradition in close ties with the community and with history, to take an indelible memory, such as the aroma and color of flowers, who have been cared for since the blessing of the seed.