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Sunday, June 16, 10am
free
The parade leaves from Salida a Celaya and goes to the Jardín via: Ancha de San Antonio, Zacateros, Umarán, Hernández Macías, Insurgentes, Pepe Llanos, Mesones, Núñez, San Francisco, Plaza Principal and Canal.
As usual with traditional festivities, it is not known exactly when it originated, but it is said that the feast would not have to do with San Antonio but with San Pascual Bailón . The local gardeners came to venerate the saint during the days near the harvest and, as an offering, they represented different dances. These dances aroused curiosity among the citizens who came to see the movements of those “crazy”. With the passage of time the gardeners began to disguise themselves as scarecrows to frighten crowds of curious and let them dance in peace.
The tradition passed from parents to children and, ironically, was losing its character hortelano (children do not have to have the same job as their parents); but gained in organization by creating the first Crazy Charts (associations).
These paintings began to emerge during the San Antonio festivities in the 1950s to announce festivities and events. In a very short time the Cuadros, with their painstaking disguises and their contagious joy, became the main event, remaining as protagonists in a party of which they were only collaborators.
Today is one of the most anticipated holidays of the year and more and more tourists come to see how the different cadres compete in originality and expertise when wearing their disguises. One of the singularities and charm of this crazy party is that the members must carry designs made manually with cardboard , plaster, old fabrics … There is nothing bought, everything is made by the members of the paintings or by local craftsmen.
The theme of the costumes is free. The different paintings usually choose a theme, so its members can appear a year as characters in the fashionable film, with traditional costumes and dresses, and even emoticons. Any theme is valid as long as it is casual and fun.
The party begins at ten o’clock in the morning and the time is prolonged for the pictures to travel the kilometer and a half that separates the Parish of San Antonio from the Central Garden. So once the celebration is over, we recommend that you visit the city, considered one of the most beautiful in Mexico and declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. A walk through its magical streets, a visit to its temples of neogothic architecture, to its typical restaurants, will make you see how beautiful and wise it can be sometimes the madness.
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