Smoke some good weed (or not), relax in your favorite chair, and enjoy this show!
La Noche de los Rabanos ("Night of the Radishes" for those of you who are illiterate in Spanish-shame on you!) occurs every year in the Zocalo in Oaxaca City, Mexico on December 23rd. Folk artists come from all over the state of Oaxaca to carve elaborate sculptures made entirely from radishes. Local folk and a few turistas wait in line for hours for a chance to see them. The gawking procession around the Zocalo lasts from sundown until the wee hours of the morn, until the last person has had a chance to view the radish extravaganza.
2007 marks the 110th anniversary of this event. John and I were there in 1997 for the 100th. I can honestly say I've never seen anything else like it in the world. It's such a surreal event that even Diego Rivera was moved to capture the essence of it.
More info:
"The radishes are not the little red round ones so prevalent in the United States. They are thick, long and cylindrical, measuring up to 20 inches in length and weighing up to seven pounds each. They grow into contorted shapes with multiple appendages. This grotesque outcome proves inspirational to the carvers, who are often forced to react creatively to what they have at hand. This gives an improvisational feel to many of the works. If the sculptures were music, they would be jazz."
Now if that doesn't prompt you to watch the show, I don't know what would.
I'm not sure how they greet one another on the plaza tonight in Oaxaca, but Happy Radish Night to you all!
4 comments:
The radish shape easily could lend itself to, uh, definite certain anatomical structures. I can imagine some very creative works of art. Very cool.
This reminded me so much of an exhibit I saw at our Joslyn Art Museum on the Day of the Dead.
I took Liv when she was about three and she had a ball. My sisters were ENRAGED that I not only took her to a Mexican holiday celebration thing, but a PAGAN one....but we both loved it.
And I just showed her the radish page. She loved it, as I knew she would.
Ah..my days of smoking weed are gone. I have to be a fucking role model now...
wow.
im planning to go to oaxaca... maybe i can coordinate my trip around this event.
and smoke a lot of weed as i always do while in mexico :)
I was in Oaxaca while on my honeymoon and million years ago. Never got to see the radish thing, though. Wild!
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