Fiesta de la Noche de los Rábanos, December 23-24

A traditional agricultural competition and festival. This tradition dates back to colonial times, when missionaries taught natives how to cultivate radishes that reached extraordinary proportions. It began in a small Oaxaca city neighborhood, known as La Trinidad de las Huertas. The event commemorating radishes is held on the evening of December 23, in Oaxaca City’s main square, in front of the Government Palace. Diego Rivera is credited with making this festival famous. A great exhibition of figures made of radishes is on display. Figures of animals, humans, saints, trucks, and other characters are fashioned using this vegetable. Artists are rewarded for their ingenuity and skill. This creative competition has expanded to include artwork made with other vegetables, dried flowers, and corn husks. These slides document examples of the ephemeral art created from the vegetables, as well as, the Christmas Eve celebrations associated with the town of Oaxaca, Oaxaca. They include: typical costumes of the seven different Oaxaca regions, dance, procession, and ephemeral objects related to mangers.

These slides are housed in LSF Container JJ.

A descriptive narrative of these slides is found on audiocassette #16 side A and B, which is housed in LSF Container RR.