Festivals in San Miguel de Allende

It seems like there is always some sort of festival going on in San Miguel. In fact, there really is. Most of these are tied to religious or Mexican national events, but at times there also those unexpected festivals. When they involve children they can make for extra special photographic events. And who doesn’t love the smiles and special faces that children can make. Add a few costumes and now there is magic in the air.

Last year and again this year there was the multicultural school event with kids coming from many districts. I wasn't paying special attention to the date as I didn’t even know it was happening again. I only came by the festival when I was heading by the Jardin. Which is a daily ritual for me in my treks around town. I didn't notice the festival event in the local paper Atencion which is great for highlighting events in and around town. There is always so much going on that it's easy to miss one, or sometimes the festival's name is in Spanish and it may not be evident by its title.

I asked one of the girls participants to pose with the rose as she seemed to have the best smile of all of them.

She and the boy in the image above were the central characters in their school skit.

The pair of them started off sitting on a bench and the boy appeared to reject the advances of the girl. I believe that this was part of a Valentines theme as every person had a heart on their palms.

After a short interval, with the music was playing all the time, the rest of their class mates joined them on stage and performed a choreographed dance.

It was great fun to watch and in this photo you can see all their hearts on their hands.

A few weeks later I came across an art festival called “Thank You Art' project. This is were kids and some adults, me included, glued coloured tissue paper to a clear plexiglass sheet.

They were allowed to cut the sheets into strange shapes or with cut-outs and even write messages on their sheets.

Then they were glued on top of each other in a multitude of different colors. When the panels were hung in a lighted area they glowed like stained glass panels.

During my photographing of the kids enjoying themselves one of the directors of the project asked me if they could use some of my photos for the up coming display of the final glass sheets.

I was fortunate to have several of my images selected for the Art show in the Biblioteca that ran for 2 weeks.

They printed my images 39cm x 52 cm (15” x 20”) and hung them on the wall around the 2 plexiglass sheets that looked like large stained glass windows.

When in San Miguel you should always, and I mean always, have your camera with you as you never know what's just waiting around the next corner. Three times during my winter stay I did not take my camera with me and I regretted it each time. Now I don't leave home without it. It may be a bit heavy so I carry it in my backpack.

Niels Henriksen