Festivals in Guanajuato

As mentioned in my previous post, Guanajuato is full of cultural activities. These last couple of weeks have been no exception as the city celebrates with a month long book fair, Día de Las Flores, and the upcoming Semana Santa. We have been fortunate to be here during such an exciting time.

Feria del Libro is a festival celebrating literature in Mexico and is supported by the Guanajuato University. It is several weeks full of cultural activities including the overall book fair, music, dance, theater, and lecture. It seemed like every plaza and theater always had something going. We had to take this opportunity to see something local. The first performance we saw was flamenco dance at Teatro Principal. It was amazing! The music was fantastic, the dancers incredibly talented and full of passion, and the costumes were lovely. It was by far our favorite performance. You can check out a video on my Facebook here.

The other couple of performances we saw were also dance. Although not as entertaining as the flamenco, both the Ballet Folklorico and tango were fun. The Ballet Folklorico had beautiful costumes from every era and region of Mexico, and it took place in a great venue, Teatro Juarez. The tango was a small student production that turned out to be more contemporary dance than tango, however it was still entertaining to watch.

The highlight of the last week was the festival of Flowers, Día de Las Flores, celebrating La Virgen de los Dolores aka Lady of Sorrows and spring time. This is a time when men present flowers to the women who catch their eye. Many young woman were sporting anything from a single rose to a enormous bouquet of flowers. I was fortunate enough to get a bouquet from my loving husband.

For two days the city streets are packed shoulder to shoulder. Vendors line the sidewalks selling brightly colored fresh flowers along with a variety of trinkets from puppets and toys to Easter eggs full of confetti. The colors were incredible. Street food was everywhere selling such delicious options as gorditas, tacos, fresh made potato chips, and a variety of salsas. Also, within each building is a carefully crafted alter for Dolores covered in flowers and fruit. Even at night, the streets seemed to be crazily crowded as the locals hit the clubs for all night dancing. This is a festival worth checking out.