Noche de los Rabanos
This evening was the famous festival that made Sarah want to come to Oaxaca in the first place: La Noche de los Rabanos. Rabanos are radishes. What is so exciting about pink and white root vegetables, you might ask? One can carve them into delightful sculptures!
Unfortunately, when we arrived at the festival after exploring Mitla, it was already 8:00 in the evening and the length of the line rivaled that of the Barack Obama rally in Fort Collins last year. However, without Secret Service agents to open the floodgates, la cola (queue) moved at an iguana’s pace. After standing in line for an hour, I gave up and started shooting photos of radishes over people’s heads before heading back to the hostel and going to bed.
Sarah, on the other hand, persisted past midnight, staying in line for four hours. Four hours! So I may be able to get more photos from her. Below are the photos I took. I’m glad we stopped by the venue (the Zócalo in Oaxaca de Juárez) in the morning before heading to Mitla as we got to see radishes being carved on the spot and also talked with some of the artists.
| In the morning, we went to the Zócalo to watch some of the entrants of La Noche de los Rabanos carve radishes. This is an owl. | A girl on a horse, and (presumably) her lover. |
| A radish holiday tree. | We asked these two women if they had a plan for what they were carving. "No, es espontáneo," they replied. |
| Figurines created from hojas de maíz (corn husks). | Figurines created from hojas de maíz (corn husks). |
Due to the large number of photos, only the first 6 of 18 are shown. View all photos or play slideshow.