What Mexican parade did I see this morning in South Philly?

April 23, 2023 5:05 PM

I saw the parade gathering at 5th and McKean around noon, then saw them go up 9th around 1. It was NOT the Mummers, but there were a lot of somewhat similar costumes, was organized into groups marching together, and a festive mobile street party atmosphere. Seemed either Mexican and/or central American.

Each group I saw started with a woman or two on horses, followed by mostly men in elaborate costumes, then a group of women in matching dresses with a banner, then music. Unfortunately I couldn't catch what any of the banners said.

One group of costumed men had backpacks of fake fruit and some included stuffed animals (one looked like a coyote), another had huge green and white pom poms on their heads, and a third were body painted entirely black or silver. Music included bands with brass and drums. A bunch of people were walking along side the marchers as audience. I also saw a group with feathered headdresses like some of the Aztec dance groups I've seen around.

Again, these were NOT mummers. There were also mummers out marching around South Philly but this was something different (and great!)

posted by sepviva to Society & Culture (9 answers total)

This is a completely wild guess but April 23 is St George’s day, which is celebrated in various (somewhat random) countries. In Latin America, Catholic festivities often incorporate pagan related symbols and festivities. It would be likely to include horses and dragons (his symbol).

Here’s an example from Brazil.
posted by quiet wanderer at 5:36 PM on April 23, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Carnaval de Puebla?

(Article is from 2020 but it seems to be a yearly thing and there's also a YouTube video of it from this year
posted by bearette at 5:51 PM on April 23, 2023

Best answer: Also, isn't Philly the best
posted by bearette at 5:52 PM on April 23, 2023 [7 favorites]

Best answer: It’s a celebration of Carnaval de Puebla! My friend got stuck trying to drive through it and did some research.
posted by babelfish at 6:07 PM on April 23, 2023

Response by poster: Thank you!!
posted by sepviva at 6:16 PM on April 23, 2023

Carnival de Puebla should be on (or as close as possible) to May 5 though, right?

There doesn’t seem to be any evidence on Google that it has been held these past couple years. Also, it used to be a BIG event with like 10000 people. Was this on that scale?
posted by quiet wanderer at 7:50 PM on April 23, 2023

Response by poster: The costumes definitely matched those in the links, and I only caught the tail end so didn't get a good sense of the overall size. Looks like it was in late April in other years. It doesn't seem to have much English language internet presence.
posted by sepviva at 10:12 PM on April 23, 2023

There doesn’t seem to be any evidence on Google that it has been held these past couple years.

Check the YouTube link i posted. Also, the dates for previous years mentioned were around this time in April.

Also, not sure why you'd assume there would be thousands of people in attendance. Unless you've seen this in the past maybe? It's mainly celebrated among the Mexican immigrant community in South philly which is prominent but not huge.
posted by bearette at 4:07 AM on April 24, 2023

Response by poster: So, confusing development: the Inquirer is reporting that Carneval de Puebla is tomorrow. Are there two? Did I see a dress rehearsal?
posted by sepviva at 10:26 PM on April 29, 2023