San Miguel de Allende, Mexico Casa Schuck Hotel

Eventos en San Miguel

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE EVENTS AND FESTIVALS

Festivals and Local Events in San Miguel de Allende

In San Miguel de Allende there is literally always some sort of event or festival taking place. For daily events in San Miguel such as yoga classes, literary readings, festivals and more, check the bulletin board at La Biblioteca Publica or Public Library. Whether you are looking to experience the cultural side of San Miguel or partake in one of the local events San Miguel de Allende is sure to please. Below is a list of events or festivals that take place in San Miguel de Allende Mexico throughout the year. We are always looking for more events in San Miguel de Allende, if you know of an event or festival that we should add to the list below contact us and we will consider it.

January
February
March
April

May
June
July
August

September
October
November
December

JANUARY

Jan. 1 - Ano Nuevo - New Year's Day. Mexico and San Miguel rings in the New Year with celebrations featuring music, dance, food and fireworks. The atmosphere is wild, as if all the party-goers had simultaneously won the local casino grand jackpot. It truly is a sight to behold! There is nothing quite like it. Streets are filled with revelers, and friends and families congregate for parties that often last till dawn.

Jan. 21 - Natalicio del General Ignacio Allende y Unzaga - Birthday of General Ignacio Allende commemorates the birth of Don Ignacio Allende, hero of Mexico's fight for independence. The town San Miguel de Allende is named after him in tribute to his sacrifice.

FEBRUARY

Feb, Mar - Carnival - Festivity that takes place in San Miguel's, similar to Mardi Gras in the U.S. which is held in February and March. During this celebration you'll see parades, Mass ceremonies and cleansing rituals, such as people walking over hot coals.

MARCH

Sabor San Miguel Viking - International food and wine festival was created and organized to promote Mexico's great food and wine industry. Meet and interact with important celebrities and personalities of Mexican gastronomy. Info visit website

APRIL

Mar or April - Semana Santa - Holy Week, processions, celebration of Masses throughout the state. In some towns, the Burning of Judas ritual takes place, represented by paper-maché figures and cartoons of historical or contemporary personalities.

MAY

JUNE

June 13 - Fiesta de San Antonio de Padua - Festival of San Antonio de Padua. This traditional and very popular festival is held on June 13th. It is characterized by the "Los Locos" (Crazy ones) parade, where people dress in costume and masks and dance through the streets of San Miguel.

JULY

International Guitar Festival - Guitar festival, featuring performances throughout the city, master classes by internationally renowned artists, lectures, exhibitions of instruments, as well as a food and arts festival spotlighting traditional food and art from the region.

AUGUST

Festival Internacional de Musica de Camara - International Chamber Music Festival. A classical music festival to bid farewell to the summer, featuring award-winning international ensembles, guest musicians and local artists performing in the city's open gardens. Info view website

SEPTEMBER

Sept 6 - 16 - Fiestas Patrias - Patriots Festival in San Miguel is over a week long festival honoring the "Cry for Independence" leading up to Mexican Independence Day. Cultural activities, civic events and fireworks are displayed daily. Takes place at Casa de Ignacio Allende.

Sept 15 - Dia de la Independencia - (Independence Day) September 15 & 16. Military parades and reenactment of the Grito or call for independence from Spain in 1810. Parades and fireworks are displayed throughout the city, but concentrated at El Jardin or the cities central garden.

Sanmiguelada - Also known as the Pamplonada because it is Mexico's imitation of Spain's "running of the bulls," the Sanmiguelada begun in 1973. This event has been cancelled until further notice, however we have information on past events...More

Sept. 29 - Fiesta de San Miguel Arcangel - (Festival of the Archangel San Miguel. This festival is in honor of the Patron Saint of of San Miguel and is celebrated on September 29, every year. Cultural, social, artistic and sporting events are held throughout the city, along with bullfights.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

Nov 1, 2 - Dia de los Muertos - (Day of the Dead). Altars are built in homes, markets and shops to honor and receive dead souls which return to earth once a year. The day of the dead is considered a festive celebration rather than mournful event celebrating departed loved ones.

Annual Jazz Festival - The Annual Jazz Festival is an opportunity to show some of the history behind Jazz as well as the history and culture that San Miguel de Allende offers to its visitors. Info view website

DECEMBER

Dec 12 - Dia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe - (Virgin of Guadalupe Day).The Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. She appeared to the Indian Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac in the early 16th century. Celebration includes mass, serenades and pilgrimages.

Dec 16 - 24 - Fiesta de Navidad - Christmas festivities in San Miguel de Allende celebrates its Christmas festivals with events for all the family with traditional posadas, pastoral plays, music, canticles and parades. The giant Christmas tree is lit in front of La Parroquio...More

Festival de San Miguel de Allende - International music festival, presented during the last two weeks of the year, the festival came to be recognized by the Mexican government as the country's best festival of classical music. Info view website

Actividades en San Miguel

San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

History of San Miguel de Allende

The town of San Miguel de Allende was founded in 1542 by the Franciscan monk Fray Juan de San Miguel. It was an important stopover on the Antiguo Camino Real, part of the silver route from Zacatecas, Zacatecas to Veracruz. The town featured prominently in the Mexican War of Independence. General Ignacio Allende, one of San Miguel's native sons, was a leading player in the war against Spain for independence. Allende, captured in battle and beheaded, is a national hero. San Miguel el Grande renamed itself "San Miguel de Allende" in 1826 in honor of his actions.

Early History of San Miguel

By 1900, San Miguel de Allende was in danger of becoming a ghost town. Declared a national historic monument in 1926 by the Mexican government, development in the historic district is restricted in order to preserve the town's colonial character. During the Cristero uprising in Mexico, when clergy and their families were persecuted, the grandchildren of Gen. Mariano Escobedo came to San Miguel de Allende, which was conveniently in a secluded condition while verging on being a ghost town. The six children of the daughter of Mariano Escobedo, Donna Maria del Refugio, were Don Anastasio Lopez Escobedo, Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo, Dr Ignacio Lopez Escobedo, and the sisters, Balbina and Isabella Lopez Escobedo. The elder child was a Cura, a charismatic head priest, Don Jose Lopez Escobedo, for whom the family was persecuted. The Cura Jose Lopez is interred at the main altar under St. Peter in the main Parroquia church of San Miguel, with a beautiful dedication to his work restoring the church in the 20th century. Lopez Escobedo is interred in the Church by the world-famous and miraculous Christ of the Conquest. The family fled their native home hacienda, Hacienda de los Lopez, to San Miguel Allende, where the Escobedo had a home, on Calle de Mesones and where a plaque still identifies the house. Few descendants from this family live in San Miguel, as only Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo had children. The eldest of his grandchildren is Marcela Andre Lopez, an international teacher and designer of jewel garlands now in residence in the historic district in one of Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo's homes. Sr. Ezequiel Lopez Basurto, son of Don Ezequiel Lopez Escobedo, has presided over many works by the Rotary Club.

San Miguel in the 20th Century

In the early 20th century, the family fortune of the Lopez Escobedo brothers and sisters was largely donated to schools for girls, convents for nuns, or lost to older distant relatives and people helped by the family who falsified papers or discovered hidden treasure after Don Ezequiel's sudden stroke and death. The impoverished barkeeper's assistant who found Don Ezequiel's property deeds and gold kept the find from Don Ezequiel's widow and five children who suffered hardships as orphans. The barkeeper's assistant had leased the store at Calle Relox and San Francisco Street from Don Ezequiel's widow and in the abundant inventory found more than could have been imagined.

Stirling Dickinson Influence on San Miguel de Allende

In 1938, Peruvian artist Felipe Cossio del Pomar established San Miguel’s first art school, the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes. It was located in the former convent that houses the present Bellas Artes. He offered the position of Art Director to American artist and writer Stirling Dickinson. Dickinson taught Spanish, botany and landscape painting, as well as taking students on field trips as part of his "Aspects of Mexico" course. Dickinson's impact on San Miguel was manifested in many ways. He had arrived in San Miguel before daybreak on February 7, 1937. At the Jardín, Dickinson looked up at the spires of the Parroquia poking through the mist. “My God, what a sight!” he said to himself. “I’m going to stay here.” After five years in San Miguel, Dickinson was named a Favored Adopted Son, the only American to be so honored by the mayor’s office. Two years later, he was honored by the governor for his work with founding a baseball team for young Mexicans. The baseball field he helped build and finance was named Campo Stirling Dickinson. Dickinson began what was probably the largest private orchid collection in Mexico, a lifelong interest that was highlighted by the discovery of Encyclia dickinsoniana and having a second named after him in recognition of his work, Cypripedium dickinsonianum. When Dickinson first arrived in San Miguel in 1937 he and his writing partner had purchased an old tannery on Santo Domingo on the way to the Atascadero Hotel above town for the equivalent of 90 U.S. dollars. The present property is worth in the millions of dollars. Despite his abundant gifts to charity, his tomb is a simple and unadorned, apparently unvisited as would normally be the case in Mexico. He is buried in the American section of the city graveyard of Sra. de Guadalupe.

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