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San Miguel has more than its share of Festivals. Last
year we were told about the procession of El Señor de la Columna (our Lord of
the Column) just the night before the event. We were there to see it and made
sure we didn't miss it this year. It lived up to all our expectations. It wasn't
just the number of faithful who turn out each year to join a religious
procession, it wasn't the fact that many had walked all night from the town of
Atotonilco, a town about 18 km from San Miguel, it was the the elaborate
decorations residents had spent hours overnight creating just so the procession
could walk all over the art work.
It all started in 1800. An serious
epidemic had broken out in the San Miguel region. After years of no end in sight
for the epidemic, Father Remigio Angel Gonzales, the parish priest of
Atotonilco, decided that action was needed. He carved the figure of a bloodied
Christ leaning on a gilded column of wood. By 1823 it was ready. Father Gonzales
organized his parishioners to bring the sculpture in procession from Atotonilco
to San Miguel de Allende. Their prayers were answered and the epidemic was
finished. The procession has been repeated each year on the Sunday before Palm
Sunday. The statue of El Señor de la Columna, along with statues of the Virgin
Mary (Our Lady of Sorrows) and St John are carried by hundreds of pilgrims
starting at midnight from the church in Atotonilco, arriving about 8 AM at San
Juan de Dios Church, just a few blocks from our apartment in San Miguel.
We were up early enough to walk past San Juan de Dios Church where the faithful have camped overnight and are waiting, wrapped in blankets against the chill of the morning. Booths were being put up to provide breakfast for the waiting crowds. We continue on to the main street along which the procession will come towards San Juan de Dios Church as soon as the sun came up. Residents were busy putting the finishing touches on carpets of coloured sawdust, flower petals and sweet herbs, decorated with religious figures, over which the pilgrims would walk. Standards of flowers line the sides of the streets and strings of purple and white paper flowers, banners and balloons form archways over the street.
Read Conchero Dancers 2016 or SMA Activities 2016 or Semana Santa 2016 writeup
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