Five silleteros, two troubadours and a group of artists and directors will represent Medellín at the ‘La Eterna Primavera’ festival that will take place from March 17 to 20 in the state of Morelos, Mexico. This year, the guest country is Colombia and there will be a stand where the silleteros will exhibit their silletas and share experiences with the people who come.
Jhon Hincapié, Julio Molina, Carlos Atehortúa, Rodrigo Sánchez and Henry de Jesús Londoño, absolute winner of the Silleteros Parade 2022, They will be in charge of transporting the flowers, the chairs and the cultural heritage to the festival agenda. These artists are joined by Juan José Castaño and Robinson Alejandro Marín (Cocoliso), both with the title of “King of the Trova”, responsible for taking this tradition to Mexico.
Also read: The winners of the Silleteros Parade 2022
“We are going to make five saddles, including three commercial ones, one traditional and one monumental. It will be a wonderful experience for us, sharing our silletera culture with the other cultures there,” said Henry de Jesús Londoño, overall winner of the 2022 Silleteros Parade.
On the institutional side, the social manager, Diana Marcela Osorio, and the undersecretary of Art and Culture, David Alexander Gómezwill accompany the event and participate in the defined programming.
Silleteros from Santa Elena, ambassadors of Colombia in the world
“We continue to support our tradition, our culture and our ‘Silleteros: Embrace the World’ We received, precisely, the invitation from Cuernavaca, Mexico, so that our tradition, our culture can go and make its exhibition, its parade, in this festival that is celebrated in this country”, said the social manager, Diana Marcela Osorio.
The cultural experience begins with an inaugural dinner this Thursday, March 16 at the Teopanzolco Cultural Center. During this event, the awards will be made to heritage towns and, later, the guests will enjoy a gastronomic pairing with traditional dishes from Colombia, Nayarit and Morelos.
Besides: What does it mean to be a saddler?
One of the main events will be represented by a parade that will take place on March 17 and that will have as its starting point the parish of San José “El Calvario”. In this exhibition, different cultural groups, among which the silleteros stand out, will tour the streets of Morelos with a show full of color and flavor from Morelos, with an Antioquian touch.
“This invitation is made to us because Morelos and Cuernavaca are defined as the City of Eternal Spring in Mexico, just as Medellín is the City of Eternal Spring in Colombia. Thanks to the Colombian embassy in Mexico, we have made this link and we will enjoy moving the silletera culture and taking our heritage around the world,” said the Secretary of Citizen Culture, Álvaro Narváez Díaz.
Also, from March 18 to 20, the Bugambilia Corridor, a space where Mexican entrepreneurs and artisans will share their products, gastronomy and local experiences with festival attendees. The stand with the silleteros will be located in this place. This festival is a platform for strengthen the local cultural offer, expose the artisan tradition in other latitudes and reaffirm in the world that in Medellín everything flourishes.