Fiestas Patronales

Salvadoran communities all have fiestas patronales, a week-or-so to celebrate the patron saint. Our pueblo’s patron is not quite a saint; he is Salvador del Mundo himself (The Savior of the World, Jesus). We share him with the capital. We got here in November; and since that time, we’ve been hearing about the August festivities on a regular basis. It’s the highpoint of the year. Lots of folks come home from San Salvador, the US, Canada, Australia to visit their families. There are rides. There is pizza. There is live music every night, both on the dance floor and in the streets. Each neighborhood has one day and a committee prepares months in advance. There was a picture of us in the fiestas patronales magazine, as well as the new banner in the mayor’s office.


It was all kicked off by a parade. In this picture, Salvadoran folklore myth El Cipitío (pointy hat) walks next to Minnie Mouse.


Yep.


A strange, mystical man scares our little friend Roberto with a Bill Clinton mask. Check out the stilts in the background.


parade spurs


It’s good to be the mayor.


Each neighborhood (and some institutions, the Red Cross, the Green Cross, the market) selects a queen: Vanessa the First, and so on. They compete as candidates to be the queen of the fiestas patronales for the whole town. During the parade, each one rides on top of a truck or van. Throngs of her neighborhood supporters surround her. Some rock t-shirts or carry signs to promote her. Kids bang on drums and blow horns. The queen throws candy, bags of drinking water, etc. She smiles and waves like the royalty that she temporarily is.


Look out!


Supporters from one barrio (neighborhood) support their queen.


It plays out like most beauty pageants. There was formal wear. There were skimpy dresses. There was dancing. We even had near-celebrity status judges, all from out of town to avoid a biased decision. One judge was from Bailando por un Sueño (Dancing for a Dream, a popular Salvadoran reality show). The backdrop on the stage in this picture is a copy of the famous Monument to the Revolution in San Salvador. We would argue that it doesn’t quite fit here. At the bottom of this picture, there is a banner to promote a “marathon” (any race, in this case about 3 kilometers) that we organized with the mayor’s office to raise money for a project to bring used computers to the rural schools.


This picture was taken early in the competition. The candidates are introducing themselves. All the ladies are shaking their hips in unison.