Will there be an Alborada Festival?

Published August 17th, 2021

On the weekend closest to September 29 San Miguel de Allende is filled with fireworks, súchiles (offerings), indigenous dancers, and rituals. It is also the celebration of St. Michael the Archangel, the city’s patron saint. With the celebration comes a fair with rides, games of chance, live music, and other activities.

The festivities kick off with the Festival Review. This year it will take place on Sunday, August 15. The review follows a wake for the Archangel. Then, a procession winds its way through several streets of the Historic Center. It starts at Calzada de la Estación and continues through the Portal de Guadalupe, calles Allende, San Francisco, Juárez, and Núñez, the Plaza Principal, and finally returns to the point of origin. At the head of the procession, an image of Saint Michael the Archangel is accompanied by dancers and devotees.

What is striking about the procession is the presence of a live bull, donated by a benefactor. The tradition goes back hundreds of years. Over a period of two months, the bull is fattened, and at the culmination of the festival, it is sacrificed. Its meat feeds the hundreds of dancers who performed in honor of the Patron Saint. This year the sacrifice of the bull will take place the first weekend in October.

There will also be a beauty pageant to select the Queen of the National and Patron Festivities, and Queen of the Field Workers. The festivities will include the burning of paper figures called monos (monkeys) and a dawn vigil.

Atencion spoke with Director of Culture and Traditions Paulina Cadena. She said that the Review will take place, but it will not be held at noon as is customary, to avoid crowds. The logistics of these events will conform to the health measures dictated by the contingency as the dates get closer.

Regarding the People’s Fair and Theater which usually takes place during September, Interim Mayor Gonzalo González stated that the City Council is working on making the decision that best suits the health concerns of San Miguel.