Fieston de los Flores

Here in El Carrizal May = the fiesta de los flores. A month long celebration of spring including viejos (drunk men in masks) lots of pan dulce and fresco (punch). The fiesta concludes with the construction of palancas, tree trunks decorated with thousands of pounds of fruit and flowers, which are carried up to the church by many strong men. The following day, the fiesta concludes with the sharing of the palancas, lots of vendors and carnival games and a drama performed by the viejos where they attack the chuche, the viejo with the black muggers mask and tear off peices of his outfit to hand out to onlookers. Then there's a mass and the selection of a queen through a mini beauty pagent.