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By Eimear O’Driscoll

Mexicans love to party. Fireworks, loud music, flowers, colorful decorations, and food, glorious food. If you travel to Mexico during an especially well-celebrated holiday, be sure to make your hotel reservations well in advance. This report includes a list of "official" Mexican holidays. Every city, town, and village also has its own holidays–founder’s days, patron saint’s days, battle commemorations, etc. Wherever and whenever you are in Mexico, you will not be far from a celebration or fiesta of some sort. For your enjoyment, IL also brings you an overview of our favorite festivals in Mexico– Día de los Locos (Day of the Crazies), Pamplonada, Día de la Independencia (Independence Day), Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), Festival Cervantino, and the International Festival Gourmet.

Día de los Locos or Day of the Crazies

Fiestas and festivals…that’s one of the reasons everyone enjoys San Miguel de Allende so much. By some accounts, this little town has more fiestas during the year than anyplace else in Mexico. One of the most entertaining festivals in San Miguel de Allende is Día de los Locos, or Day of the Crazies.

Taking place each year on the first Sunday after the day of San Antonio de Padua (June 13), Día de los Locos isn’t a religious festival-it’s a parade held to celebrate spring. And for some reason it has turned into a costume extravaganza.

Participants dress up in an amazing assortment of wild outfits made from old clothes, cardboard boxes, bailing wire, styrofoam, fabric, papier-mâché, masking tape, and whatever else comes to hand. Cartoon and children’s characters like Barney, Power Rangers, and Sponge Bob are well represented, along with outlandish caricatures of campesinos, foreigners, and town celebrities.

There are always lots of costumes inspired by popular movies, and every Día de los Locos parade has had several Terminators and Darth Vaders marching in it. There is always an assortment of political figures, too. George Bush, Vincente Fox, and Osama Bin Laden are particularly well represented lately, portrayed with not-so-subtle and sometimes ribald sarcasm.

And cross-dressing is a standard for Día de los Locos. You’d have to go a long way in Mexico to see as many men dressed up as women all in one place just for the fun of it! Old women, young women, black women, white women, nuns, geishas, models, nurses…you name it, there will be a Mexican man dressed like one.

If you march in the Día de los Locos parade, you must-repeat, must-throw candy. You must throw lots of it, and you can’t just throw it to people. Every now and then you must throw it at them. Hard. The spectators love it.

Pamplonada

Pamplonada, another San Miguel de Allende festival, is one of Mexico’s most outrageous spectacles…rivaling Spring Break on the U.S. coasts, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and one particularly similar event held annually in the Basque Country of northern Spain.

The weekend falling between the celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day (September 16) and the festival for the city’s patron saint, San Miguel el Arcángel (September 29) is the Mexican version of the running of the bulls in Pamplona.

It all starts when upward of 20,000 visitors pour in from all parts of Mexico to participate in the festivities. Many of them are from Mexico City; nearly all of them are young people. (Cavorting with angry bulls, after all, is not often considered sport for those of a "mature" age.) Through the night, the bars, restaurants, disco, and cantinas are elbow to elbow with revelers who toast their coming prowess. Or, perhaps, they’re drinking for courage.

It’s easy to understand, then, that the next morning…when the event actually starts…many of the participants are either hungover or still drunk. To lessen the effect, the municipality now imposes a ban on alcohol sales the morning of and during the event…except for establishments where food is served.

By 9 a.m., el Jardin (San Miguel’s central plaza) begins to fill with people. Almost everyone is bedecked in a white shirt and red bandana. Many (especially the women) also sport red cowboy hats. The streets around the Jardin are blocked off with heavy metal barricades, inside of which a dozen or more bulls will be let loose.

Throughout the morning, the Centro area of San Miguel becomes more and more crowded, with people jockeying for a prime spot from which to watch. Those restaurants and bars lucky enough to have a vantage point above the streets charge admissions of up to $150 per person to see the event from their more comfortable surroundings.

At noon, the bulls-trucked in from ranches that specialize in the breeding of bulls for bull fights-are ejected from the panel trucks and into the streets of San Miguel. Young men…and even a few young women…hop over the barricades to taunt, try to grab the horns of, and run from the bulls. The " brave chicos" run and the bulls chase after whichever one of them they see first. The bulls are not at all tame, and not at all happy to be prancing on cobblestones to the jeers of thousands of onlookers.

Mexican national television broadcasts the event live…and that is possibly the best way to take part in this event. After you’ve watched the bulls grow angrier and become more fatigued…and after you’ve seen more than a few young people gored or tossed through the air like rag dolls…the thrill begins to ebb. Every year there are hundreds of injuries, and-unfortunately-deaths are not unusual.

In truth, the running of the bulls is not what Pamplona is about as much as it is about drinking, partying, and preening. It’s a boost for the economy of San Miguel, for sure…and a boost for nearby communities as well, since many of those who live there head for those tranquil havens during the weekend of Pamplona.

Día de la Independencia-Viva Mexico!

The chief instigator of the Mexican Independence movement was Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the parish priest of the small town of Dolores.

Soon after becoming a priest, Father Hidalgo opened his home to the indigenous and mestizo people of his community, holding discussion groups where all were welcome. They talked about current events and social reform. From these informal discussions, the independence movement started to take shape.

Hildalgo reached out to others who shared his views. Chief among them were Ignacio Allende (San Miguel de Allende bears his name), Juan de Aldama, and José Mariano Jiminez. They began to promote the idea of an uprising by the native and mixed-blood peasants against wealthy Spanish land-owners. They planned to launch their revolt in October of 1810.

Unfortunately, their plans were discovered in early September of that year. The conspirators were alerted-famously, by Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, la Corregidora, the wife of the Magistrate of Queretaro-that orders had been sent for their arrest. The movement was in trouble. They had two alternatives: either abandon their plans, or move faster and start the revolt immediately. Hidalgo decided on the latter.

In the pre-dawn hours of September 16, 1810, 57-year-old Father Hidalgo opened the jails, imprisoned the local Spanish authorities, and began the general call to arms. He rang the church bells and summoned the people of Dolores and asked them to join him against the Spanish government and wealthy aristocrats. The speech he gave then is now known as " El Grito de Independencia."

" Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe! Death to bad government! Death to the gachupines!" he shouted. The crowd responded enthusiastically, and soon an angry mob of ragtag revolutionaries, armed with stones and machetes, was marching toward the regional capital in Guanajuato. The miners of Guanajuato joined in the massacre of all those who resisted the revolutionaries, including the local chief colonial official.

Less than a year later, the four primary leaders of the movement for independence-Ignacio Allende, Juan de Aldama, José Mariano Jiminez, and Father Hidalgo-were executed and beheaded. Their heads were hung in cages on the four outside corners of the Alhóndiga in Guanajuato, and they hung there until independence was won 10 years later in 1821.

The followers of Father Hidalgo were not daunted by his death. If anything, it inspired them even more in their fight for freedom. The revolution would last 11 years and extract a heavy toll of human life on both sides. As Father Hidalgo hoped, however, it eventually led to Mexico’s independence from Spain.

Every year, Father Hidalgo’s inspiration is commemorated when, at midnight on September 15, Mexicans everywhere-led by the country’s current president-shout " El Grito" honoring the crucial, impulsive action that took place in 1810.

After that, the fireworks start and the real festivities begin. It is a raucous, joyous, colorful time to be in Mexico. On every corner, Mexican flags are being sold. In restaurants and local homes, special feasts are prepared, including chiles en nogada-the patriotic dish of stuffed poblano chilies that displays the red, white, and green of the flag.

Día de los Reyes

There are many names for the festival which occurs on the Twelfth Day of Christmas (actually after Christmas) on January 6th. In Mexico, it is called Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day), and it is a beloved day for children, because they receive even more presents. The children leave their shoes outside the door so they can be filled with gifts from the Magi (Three Kings). This is also the day the nativity scene is taken down.

In the evening the Rosca de Reyes is cut. It is a special bread made for the occasion in the form of a crown, decorated with dried fruits. Hidden inside are small plastic "child Gods"-little dolls, actually. At this fiesta each guests cuts his own piece of this coffee cake because tradition demands that if one of these turns up in your slice of rosca, you will be buying the tamales and giving a party on February 2, Día de la Candelaria, Purification Day.

Festival Cervantino (Cervantes Festival)

Internationally known as a cultural center, Guanajuato hosts one of the biggest cultural events in Mexico. Festival Cervantino (Cervantes Festival) is held for two weeks in October. This is Latin America’s version of the Edinburgh Arts Festival, with every stage, plaza, street corner, and public building filled with workshops, orchestral performances, classic theater and modern plays, art exhibits, ballet and ethnic dancing, poetry readings, and performers from around the world. It has become so large that it now spills over to nearby San Miguel de Allende and Dolores Hildalgo. If you want to attend, accommodations must be booked well in advance.

Teatro Juárez (Juarez Theatre), inaugurated in 1903, is the main showcase of the Festival. It is a must-see site, with lavishly carved and painted Moorish-style interiors and a French-inspired lobby. A local story recounts that an architect from New York City visited Guanajuato early in the last century and made sketches of the theatre. He later became a principal architect for the New York Stock Exchange building and you will definitely note a similarity in design. But only the theater has statues of the eight Muses along its façade.

International Festival Gourmet

During the month of November, xenophiles and gourmands come from far and wide to enjoy an unsurpassed experience of local gastronomy and flavor at the International Festival Gourmet in Peurto Vallarta. Some of the world’s master chefs share their expertise with Vallarta’s many local talented chefs at the most acclaimed restaurants in the area. Every night, they prepare creative delights with customized menus and specialties in all participating establishments. Visitors to Vallarta can participate in any of the several "Chefs and Winemakers Dinners," where luscious dinner courses and select wines will be featured and presented by the winemakers. There is also a special cocktail evening where you can meet all the invited celebrity chefs from around the world.

The EXPO-FORUM is an exciting part of the festival and is not to be missed. You can participate in cooking classes, specialized food seminars, a gourmet food fair introducing the newest and most creative epicurean products available, Tequila Madness and much more-like fashion shows, live music, and dancing.

The Festival started 12 years ago as the brainchild of Thierry Blouet of Café des Artistes, Heinz Reize of Hotel Krystal, and Sivan Muller of Nestle. (If you’ve been to Vallarta…or are a fan of gourmet food shows and magazines, you’ve heard of these three.) Each year, they’ve been making the festival bigger and better and drawing even more renowned chefs to Mexico to share their talents.

Holidays in Mexico

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