Originally posted by paranewbi
Actually the 'festival' spanned about 6 nights when I was there. The party starts mildly around the zocalo and a couple of days before the 23rd they
build plywood tables and white wash them right in place (day after Christmas when they remove them there's white wash outlines all over the zocalo).
Then there’s a day of setting up the displays which people from all around Oaxaca grow in the rocky soil and that is why they take on shapes. One that
I saw was the spitting image of Ronald Reagan’s face!
Two days before Christmas the party takes on a carnival atmosphere and on the other side of the Cathedral there is a block long set up of food stands
with seating. They all serve a punch type hooch in clay cups that will cause you to sit down on the curb after only two! There is also small food
dishes of clay and when you finish eating you take the cups and the plates over to a wall of the church and hurl them into the broken pile of
clay...don’t know why but it was fun to break stuff when your drunk and full.
On Christmas Eve the local churches all have a truck parade that files through the crowded zocalo at different times with the church kids posing in a
manger scene. The in between times are punctuated by individuals running through the throngs with firework pin wheels blazing away on a long pole
overhead and sparks flying everywhere! Awesome time!
Only regret is that when you wake up Christmas morning the whole town in shut down as everyone is with their family...and you’re not.
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