HISTORY OF SAN MIGUEL: Madness on the streets

Part II

When the Mexican War of Independence began, right here in our town, on September 15, 1810, everything changed overnight. None was unaffected by the bloody war that continued for the next eleven years. In 1821 Mexico finally gained its full independence from the Spanish who had ruled over the country for three centuries. It was a new beginning, but the decade of fighting had left the town devastated.

San Miguel el Grande felt the repercussions of the war. With the advance of the insurgent armies, and the resentment of the indigenous people who had been abused for so long, the Spanish population had to abandon the mansions they had built in San Miguel, and they fled to safer places. The huge mansions became empty and began to decay, the orchards were left unattended, and the fields turned fallow. The festivities that had been such a vital part of the town also slowed down, including the celebrations that the hortelanos had started. There was no interest in a locos parade when the country, and the town where it all began, were involved in fierce fighting, and this dormant period continued far beyond 1821 when Mexico gained its independence, it lasted until the 20th century.

Then in the 1930s the city, by now called San Miguel de Allende, experienced a revival. It all came with the arrival of several outsiders. The first to discover the sleepy colonial town was Pepe Ortiz, a famous Mexican bullfighter whose wife was a movie star. They built a home in what is now Atascadero, but was then the outskirts of town. After Pepe, another famous person decided to make San Miguel his home. His name was Jose Mojica, an opera tenor who had performed on the world stage, then had become a very popular movie star in the golden era of Mexican cinema, and also

starred in several movies in Hollywood. He bought a home in front of Parque Juarez, the current Hotel Villa Santa Monica, where he loved to entertain. Many visitors came to his home—famous movie stars, artists, and wealthy patrons of the arts. He met and invited Felipe Cossio del Pomar, a rich art critic from Peru, and Stirling Dickinson, a wealthy Chicagoan. The two met here and decided to create a school of fine arts in the old convent, the current Bellas Artes Cultural Center.

San Miguel de Allende became a city of art and culture, with artists and intellectuals flocking to it. As the city grew and came alive again, some of the locals decided to bring back the old traditions. The families of the hortelanos remembered how their ancestors used to celebrate San Pascual Baylon. Many had held on to the oral histories passed down through generations, some had objects that their grandparents had passed on to them—pieces of old costumes, sheet music and lyrics to some of the old songs, images of San Pascual Baylon either in statuettes or in paintings. The more they talked about the old days, the more grew their desire to revive the old celebrations.

Families began to gather and plan, then finally started the festival that had been so popular. It began in Parque Juarez, and was not a wild celebration at first, as it had been long ago. They then moved it to the neighborhood of San Antonio which was pretty open then, with very few houses. The old orchards were gone; where the old Gran Huerta had existed (the area of Hotel La Aldea today) was an open filed with magueys which were used to produce pulque. During the early 1900s between 300 to 350 liters of pulque were produced per day. People showed up with containers to take it home, and some even brought some snacks and drank it right there among the magueys. Whether the imbibing of pulque had anything to do with the “los locos” progression to this neighborhood, we’ll never know.

The celebration became wilder with time, and from 1961 on, the costumes became more and more outrageous, including movie and political personalities. To make things even more complex, they added a third saint—San Isidro Labrador (patron of farmers) in their festivities. So the entire celebration is now under the auspices of San Pascual Baylon, San Antonio of Padua, and San Isidro Labrador.

There is a special celebration of San Isidro Labrador (separate from Los Locos) in La Telega outside of SMA. It’s a small rural community on the way to Los Rodriguez, with about 500 people. Sometime in mid-May they celebrate San Isidro, ask for a good harvest, and have their farm animals blessed.

The current los Locos celebration is composed of four groups, called cuadros. The origin of the term is obscure, but it might be related to the word “cuadrilla,” a quadrille. Aside from the most common meaning of the word—a dance from the 18th century, the term also designates a group of riders in a tournament or carousel.

The original groups were: Cuadro del Parque, Cuadro Antiguo, Cuadro Nuevo, and Cuadro del Tecolote. Each one has its own float and musical band. The oldest is Cuadro del Parque—the one that originated in Parque Juarez in the mid-20th century and is at the head of the parade. They say that the original families of this cuadro used to sell camotes—sweet potatoes—and to this day they are called Los Camoteros. The current head of the Cuadro del Parque is Josue Patlan, representing the fourth generation of his family’s tradition.

Over the years some outsiders, either from Mexico or even from abroad, try to get into the parade. They bring their own costumes and try to become part of the festivity. But there are specific steps they need to take, such as permits, and payments to the city, so many simply hide on the sidelines and then sneak into the parades, they are called “la pelotera.”

And that is the story of the los Locos...