Yesterday was a religious festival day in San Miguel. "Our Lord of the Conquest" is the celebration of the conversion of the Indians to Catholicism.  As I understand it, this is a fiesta unique to San Miguel which was started many years ago by families descendant from some of the local Indians.  I witnessed the celebration during my first visit to San Miguel over 25 years ago and was impressed with it then.  It is now bigger and better than ever!

Events began the night before, when at regular intervals, firecrackers are set off.  Then a special Mass took place in the main church in the morning.  After that, it was a day of non-stop dancing.  Various groups from the region arrived with drums and costumes and lots of energy and stamina.  The costumes were amazing and the feathered headgear spectacular!!  Some appeared to be based on historic styles but most were contemporary versions with sequins and lots of glitz. They danced in the street in front of the church and the streets that surround the Jardin.  The dancing was to the beat of drums and people of all ages participate.  As the day wore on, more groups appeared and more spectators arrived until the area was packed.  By the middle of the afternoon, I would estimate that there were at least 12 groups dancing, each group with 20 to 50 dancers -  that's 500 dancers!  And each group danced to the beat of their own drums so it was LOUD, not to mention more loud firecrackers and church bells tolling every 15 minutes.  I could hear the beat of the drums three blocks away.  At one point, I ordered a hamburger from a vendor and had to shout in his ear so he could hear me!  (The chilis in the hamburger caused tears to stream down my face, but I ate every bite!)

The feathered costumes were incredible and I could not stop taking pictures. It's a wonder that all the birds in Latin American aren't nude. (I don't want to think that birds died for these costumes.)  What amazed me most was the endurance of the dancers since they were there from 10 am until 8pm, taking only a few minutes for breaks.  The spectators included all of us foreigners, of course, but we were vastly out numbered by Mexican families.  There was no drinking of beer or booze nor was there any rowdy behavior!  I was very impressive.

So, I hope you enjoy these pictures.























This fellow had the biggest headdress I saw all day,







When the dancers took rest breaks, they put their headgear in front of their group's altar.



There was one group that danced with masks instead of feathered head pieces.  Masked dancing is more popular in towns south of San Miguel and I was especially excited to see it yesterday because of my interest in masks.  Many of the characters that I depicted in my series of prints last year danced yesterday - the clown, the bull, the diablo, the Spanish ladies and conquistadors.







Notice the conquistadors above have little horses attached to their waists.  And, below you see that men play the part of women.



To one side of the church there were several large boards with large breads attached.  I never did find out anything about them, but my guess is that it was some kind of bake sale to raise money for the dance groups.



The dancing continued after dark.  The finale was when the groups paraded out of town (to the buses waiting to take them home.)





As these dancers left the area, I went off to view more dancing!  As it turned out, there was a modern aerial dance troupe performing last night.