Yes, it is La Noche del Rabanos, the Night of the Radishes, but this annual event draws so many people, more every year, that one has to get there quite early in the day to see the real action.
Porfirio Diaz in all his radish glory
And that action is the setup, the creation of real works of art in three areas: rabanos or radishes, dried flowers or flor inmortal and totomoxtle or corn husk figures (both natural and colored). This flor work was very large, thousands of flowers, months of work.
I got there around 10 AM and unlike previous years, there was easy access to the folks setting up. This lasted a while, but after they closed it off, that press pass came in handy. So much fun to meet all the artists.
I think the one thing I noticed that was different this year was that there were so many young people participating in the competition. Look at this incredible piece in natural corn husks.
I'm talking about young hip artist types as well as young people from the villages. Very cool!
Looks like they are going to push this tradition forward.
I left at around 1 PM. The crowds were building, but nothing like they will be in a few hours. As MC Hammer says, "Can't touch that." There is so much happening in the city these days. There is music, art and traditional food, clothing and folk art everywhere. Lots of open and free public participatory things. This place really knows how to do it right... at times... and this is definitely one of those times. Lots of shots to go through, but hey, this is being posted nine hours before the thing ends. I'll rejoin humanity and the crowds tomorrow night for Noche Buena in the zocalo. More Magic!
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