Photos by David Bacon

SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE — For three days during the town fiesta of San Miguel de Allende indigenous dance groups converge here, and dance through the streets from morning until late at night. Costumes celebrate everything from religious symbols to mythologized history to a common bond with the culture of native peoples north of the U.S. border. Almost 40% of San Miguel residents are Otomi and 20% Nahua, but the dances are performed by groups from all over Mexico.

Indigenous people in Izcuinapan, the original native community located here, had a long history of resistance to the Spanish colonizers. Guamare and Chichimeca people attacked the first Spanish settlement, and the Spanish viceroy was eventually forced to recognize a limited independence for the indigenous people here.