The first Sunday after June 13th (Festividad de San Antonio de Padua---Feast of st. Anthony of Padua) brings the Fiesta de los Locos. No one knows when the fiesta began but it originated with masked, and usually intoxicated, farmers marched through town brandishing branches and tools simultaneously handing out fruit to bewildered onlookers. Today, in an extravaganza found only in San Miguel de Allende, half the town dresses in wild costumes and the rest line the streets to catch the tens of thousands of pieces of candy thrown to (and sometimes at) spectators. Residents of Colonia San Antonio are divided into teams of locos who save and raise money for the group´s candy, march together and concoct hilarious floats. Women adopt the persona of their favorite celebrities. Men often dress as women, animals, disgraced politicians.

 

Clean up of the streets by many workers

 

 

 

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