Alborada I

San Miguel de Allende was founded in 1542 by Fray Juan de San Miguel when he built a mission to serve the many Indian groups in the area. It became known as San Miguel el Grande. The main church in town is the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel. Naturally the town takes great pride in celebrating the Feast Day of San Miguel, the patron saint. San Miguel de Allende can put on some great Fiestas and for this one they go all out. The feast day of San Miguel is September 29 but the actual celebration can last a week or more. The modern custom is to have the major part of the Fiesta on the weekend following Sept. 29 but the actual day is also celebrated.

San Miguel, or Saint Michael the Archangel as he is known to the English speaking world, is noted for his warrior role. When Lucifer revolted against the rule of God it was San Miguel Archangel who was sent to do battle with Lucifer and banish him to Hades. San Miguel is often invoked as a protector for troops going into battle. He is always represented with his sword and armor signifying his role in combating evil forces. San Miguel's combat with evil is acted out in the Explanada in front of the Parroquia in a grand fireworks battle that takes place just before dawn. This dawn battle gives the name to the town's celebration of its patron saint, Alborada means "dawn" in Spanish.

San Miguel Arcángel

While the dawn fireworks battle is the most spectacular event there is so much more to this Fiesta. The weekend is pretty much non-stop Fiesta what with the all night celebration followed the next day by all-day parades, dance performances, and processions honoring San Miguel. The evenings are full also with cultural presentations, music, and even more fireworks. The Feast of San Miguel really goes on for more than a week. Almost every day there are one or two processions carrying the image of San Miguel to various churches and shrines around the city so that san Miguel can confer his blessings on these locations. Often they are accompanied by music and dances. In the afternoons and evenings there are often dance or music shows providing first class entertainment. If you plan on taking in the Alborada Fiesta consider staying for the whole week beginning around Sept. 26. The main part of the Fiesta is on the weekend starting Friday afternoon until 6 AM Saturday, then parades and dance performances all day Saturday until midnight. Sunday morning it starts back up then late into Sunday evening. There is really only one 8 hour rest period all weekend.

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2156 - "Felicidades" - Happiness. They say it is a right but few governments do much to create it. But San Miguel de Allende goes all out to create one week of happiness with the Fiesta of Alborada, probably the biggest of the year.
1835 - This other group from Colonia Aurora are caring the estrellas symbolizing the stars in the heavens. The workers from the textile factory “Aurora”, now an art and design center, originated many of the customs that are part of the Alborada.
1845 - It is 3 AM and the folks that have been having their own Fiestas in their neighborhoods now gather to march into the Jardín. The people in the “Alborada 2008” shirts will be leading the assault on the forces of evil in front of the Parroquia.
1474 - Of course some of the elderly couples got a little carried away with the dancing and celebrating!
1762 - All during the week a smaller statue of San Miguel is carried in processions to most of the churches and shrines around town so that he may confer his blessings on the town. These devotional processions occur at odd times so often do not attract a lot of attention.
1292 - Almost every Indian dance group performs and makes their offerings and prayers at this monument. It seems that at this spot, the pre-conquest customs and modern Catholic customs come together.
1277 - This monument in the courtyard of the Parroquia is the focus of many processions. Here are illustrated many pre-conquest symbols – the X-shaped cross, the flower offerings, the burning of copal incense, and the feathered dancers.
1560 - Here the women of Grupo Taraumara gather in front of the church to consecrate their conch shell trumpets before entering the church.
1575 - Many groups come to the church to pay homage to san Miguel. Here the Groupo Taraumara burn copal incense and blow on their conch shell trumpets in a moving tribute to the Saint.
1273 - For the duration of the Fiesta the statue of San Miguel Arcangel is placed on the main altar in Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel. The altar is also decorated with nice floral decorations. San Miguel is always depicted with his sword and armor.
1035 – The statue of Fray Juan de San Miguel stands in front of the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel. Since San Miguel is the namesake and Patron Saint of the town this Fiesta takes on added importance.

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1692 - This night the workers at the market organized a procession to take the San Miguel statue to a shrine at the market.
1861 - Here they all come pouring into the Jardín ready to witness the enactment of the great battle San Miguel Arcangel had with Lucifer to defeat the forces of evil. It is now almost 4 AM Saturday morning and the battle is ready to begin.
1828 - The different bands march around and through the Jardín leading the dancing and celebrating crowds in processions all evening long. All in all it was a pretty good street party.
1821 - It is Friday evening and in anticipation of the fireworks to come many musical groups come to the Jardín. The gathering crowds dance to the music or just listen to the many genre of Mexican music being played.
1697 - Once at the market shrine a priest blesses the shrine and the people who participated in the procession. Afterwards food is served to the participants along with more dance performance.
1688 - Most of the processions have some form of entertainment. Tonight there are Mojigangas, Estrellas, an Indian dance group with drums, and the workers with their families. Since they occur at odd times they do not attract much of a crowd.

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1935 - The burning Castillos and the overhead aerial display made for quite a show. Notice the lack of any crowd control measures. If you ever have the chance be sure to see a Mexican fireworks show.
2144 - Finally, near the end, an apparition of San Miguel appeared high atop one of the Castillos indicating that he was once again successful in defeating the forces of evil. By this time it was near 6 AM, an almost 2 hour show.
1936 - Oh, what a great battle it was! The rain of falling sparks may have been too much for evil to endure very long.
1913 - Finally, the smoke got so thick it was difficult to take pictures. We were also treated to an aerial display while this was going on. The noise reverberating off the surrounding buildings was a constant roar.
1934 - Then they went on to the burning of the Castillos, a traditional Mexican firework. This presented more opportunities for the boys to run under the burning fireworks. There is no security zone here.
1899 - Also attached to the fence in front of the Parroquia were burning pin-wheels which give the forces of evil additional chances of getting burned. The barrage of rockets into the Explanada lasted for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
1904 - Here we have 3 incoming rounds, 2 large explosions and a 3rd smaller rocket. This year there were 72,000 small rockets each of which seems to divide into about 5 cherry-bomb explosions and 7,000 large exploding rockets which make quite a boom.
1905 - The great battle starts by the "good" guys launching thousands of exploding bottle rockets into the Explanada in front of the church. In this war the forces of evil are represented by the boys that like to run around under the hail of exploding rockets.

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