page_title: Medellín
section_title: Festivals and events
hierarchical_section_title: Medellín / Culture / Festivals and events
caption_attribution_description: Desfile de Silleteros 2007, silletas expuestas después del desfile. Medellín, Colombia.
context_page_description: Medellín, officially the Municipality of Medellín, is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central region of the Andes Mountains in South America. According to the National Administrative Department of Statistics, the city had an estimated population of 2,508,452 according to the 2018 census. With its surrounding area that includes nine other cities, the metropolitan area of Medellín is the second-largest urban agglomeration in Colombia in terms of population and economy, with more than 3.7 million people.
  In 1616 the Spaniard Francisco Herrera Campuzano erected a small indigenous village known as "Saint Lawrence of Aburrá", located in the present-day El Poblado commune. On 2 November 1675, the queen consort Mariana of Austria founded the "Town of Our Lady of Candelaria of Medellín" in the Aná region, which today corresponds to the center of the city and first describes the region as "Medellín".
context_section_description: Festival of the Flowers is held late July to early August. The Festival, plus many other activities and festivities, is the main axis the Desfile de Silleteros, a colorful and artistic parade of flowers filled saddles on the back for their own grower and already well known internationally.
  Christmas lighting in Medellín is a traditional seasonal event where the city hangs millions of Christmas lights and holds light shows and other cultural events. National Geographic ranked Medellín Christmas lights display as one of the top 10 places to see Christmas lights in the world.
  International Poetry Festival is an annual congregation of poets, who give at public their poems and readings of a peculiar way mass in parks, auditoriums, neighborhoods and towns near Medellín. This event has been awarded the Right Livelihood Award, the prelude to the Nobel Peace Prize by the Right Livelihood Foundation of Sweden, and its aim is to strive for peace through poetry. The XVII International Poetry Festival of Medellín was performed between July 14 and 22, 2007, with the participation of over 80 poets from around 55 nations.
  International Tango Festival is an expression of the tango culture that Medellín adopted as their own. This is a legacy of the bard Carlos Gardel, who died in this city in a plane crash in 1935. Among the activities of the Festival highlights the Tangovía, where people took to the streets en masse to dance, listen to tango, milonga and obviously having fun at the behest of culture.
  Book and Culture Festival is one of the most important cultural events in Medellin, named itself Festival, rather than Fair, due to its magical atmosphere that revolves around art, books and culture.  The Festival is hosted for 10 days at the Botanical Garden in the month of September, and it is held with the participation of both national and international participants and exhibitors from all genres. The Book and Culture Festival is free entry, and aims to promote reading through different workshops. This event is sponsored by the Mayor of Medellin.
  Feria internacional del caballo Since 2009 was added to the horse paisa culture the Feria internacional del caballo, held in October, an exhibition with participants from several countries and involving varied horse races.
  Bullfighting Festival of La Macarena held every year between January and February.
caption: An example of a silleta at the Festival of the Flowers.
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