Last weekend was the festival of San Juan, the patron saint
of San
Juan Bautista. The festival revolves around playing with fire- and the
school in Jhugua was no exception! Imagine our surprise when the
principal took a ball of rags, soaked it in kerosene, lit it on fire
and kicked toward the kids, who ran screaming, and continued to kick
the flaming ball at each other!
Juan Bautista. The festival revolves around playing with fire- and the
school in Jhugua was no exception! Imagine our surprise when the
principal took a ball of rags, soaked it in kerosene, lit it on fire
and kicked toward the kids, who ran screaming, and continued to kick
the flaming ball at each other!
 |
| Just a little fun playing with fire! |
A pole, about 20 feet tall was placed on the playground,
with a bag of treats attached to the top. Next, the pole was drenched in
grease, left over from several fried traditional foods being sold as
fund-raisers. All of the boys scrambled to reach the top of the pole, stepping
on each other, climbing over each other, falling on each other. Finally, one
boy, with the help of his friends, made it to the top of the pole and retrieved
the bag of goodies!
 |
| Fund raiser- Cooking chipa, (corn bread), on sticks. You can imagine the jokes being told around this fire! |
Next, two coins were attached to the back of a frying pan
with a thick sugar cane syrup. The pan was hung from an extension cord nailed
between two trees. The kids took turns licking the back of the frying pan until
one lucky student ended up with the coins in his mouth!
 |
| How many licks does it take? |
Of course, how could I forget the sack races; “Draw the Tail
on the Pig” while blindfolded; musical chairs, and the dance by grade-level competition?
 |
| Does the tail go here? |
But that's not all... Mark was talked into being the “Toro Candil”. He
wore a black cape and held a stick with a torch lit on both ends against
his head and chased the kids like a flaming bull! In the process he
burned the hair off his fingers and got a blister from one burn- but
boy was he the hit of the festival!
 |
| Mark as the "Toro Candil" |
The finale included three more kerosene- soaked flaming
balls being kicked toward and between the students, with more wild shrieking
and tearing around the playground.
Oh man! Mark as the toro candil...ja ja, please tell me you have video footage too?
ReplyDeleteHi Mark and Sue,
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of the Peace Corps' Office of Third Goal and Returned Volunteer Services, thank you for sharing your experiences in Paraguay with an engaging blog! We especially enjoy this post describing the celebrations of the Festival of San Juan and agree that this sounds like quite a "cultural gem." The Toro candil reminds me of the Wakax Q'an ("Flaming Bull" in K'iche') tradition in Guatemala, where someone wears a metal cage vaguely in the shape of a bull which shoots fireworks into the crowd. I feel like many countries have their equivalents of these traditions which would never be considered okay in the U.S. Thanks for helping further the Third Goal, and keep up the good work!
www.peacecorps.gov/thirdgoal
thirdgoal@peacecorps.gov
No question, the Sup, will have no problem at all!
ReplyDelete