Dia de los Locos
June 1- 4, 37th Festival de Jazz en la Escuela Superior de Música (Jazz Festival) del INBA , Coyoacan, D.F. Those with a love of jazz music should not miss the many concerts and talented jazz musicians performing at the National Art Center, completely free of charge! This festival will be dedicated to pay tribute to the late Eugenio Toussaint, a Mexican musician. The performances will be held in the Conference Room of the campus Angelica Morales, in Coyoacan. Organized by the National Institute of Fine Arts, the festival will include a series of concerts with the participation of leading jazz groups and soloists, as well as panel discussions on the contributions of Mexican musician, and a film series and workshops for jazz. For thirty years this festival has been held continuously. Since 1980, it began to take place once a year and, after 2006 do two festivals a year, the first in February and the second in June. Each of these festivals has been dedicated to a character, now deceased, in the history of jazz.
June 14–July 14, National Ceramics Award Fair and Fiesta of San Pedro, Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. On the outskirts of Guadalajara, this annual event offers exhibits, demonstrations and competitions of the finest Mexican pottery. This is an excellent opportunity to see all of Mexico’s renowned handmade objects at one time. Saving you from having to travel to each region of the country, craftsmen come to sell their wares in a fiesta atmosphere. Also, mulitas (mules), handmade from dried corn husks and painted, are traditionally sold outside all churches on that day to represent a prayer for fertility.
June 17-26, Feria de Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi Fair), Papantla, Veracruz. This annual religious festival consists of parades and church services. Voladores, or flyers, perform spectacular feats, launching themselves from the top of a pole (often reaching as high as 100 feet), and slowly descending as the ropes around the pole unwind. During this ancient Náhuatl and Totonac ritual, each volador circles the pole thirteen times before reaching the ground, for a total of fifty-two turns. The ceremony is said to promote fertility, communicate with the heavens and honor the sun.
June 19, El Día de los Locos, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Every year in mid-June residents and visitors in San Miguel de Allende celebrate El Día de los Locos, (the Day of the Crazy People). On this day, people from various neighborhoods, businesses and families who don elaborate and colorful costumes that range from political characters and animals to birds and cross-dressing men. They throw inordinate amounts of candy at spectators, and often will convince an unsuspecting bystander to join the party and dance. The parade begins at the Church of San Antonio and winds its way through the streets of San Miguel until reaching the Jardín central, San Miguel’s main square. This annual carnivalesque celebration takes place on the Sunday following the feast day of Saint Anthony of Padua which takes place on June 13th.
Last two weeks of June, Feria Anual de San Pedro Tláhuac (Annual San Perdo Fair) D.F. taking place close to the city’s government offices and featuring a host of sporting events, such as soccer and cycling. Also, the festival hosts traditional dancers from various states, along with live music. The celebration culminates with fireworks and processions to St. Peter, patron of the place.
