More Fun Nicaraguan Celebrations

This previous week marked the beginning of our town's month long June festivities. Every area of the country has a designated month-ish period where they celebrate their patron Saint. Our month is July, and our saint is Jacob. Anyways, all the stories and descriptions of the fun to be had as told to us from our fellow Nagaroteños has placed us under intense anticipation.

Last Tuesday was the first of the celebrations and we were sure not to miss it. It turned out that this fiesta was actually not, in fact, celebrating of our own patron saint, Jacob, but saint John instead. For all those not well-acquainted with stories of the Christian saints, including myself, Saint John was beheaded. This is important because the celebration memorialized exactly that aspect of his story.
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"La Carrera de Patos" is the festival whereby our town of Nagarote remembers Saint John. A string is strung across a street at a height of about ten feet. A duck is tied by the feet, upside-down, in the middle of the rope. The neck of the duck is greased. The farmers from the surrounding rural area ride into town on their horses and line up at one end of the street. One at a time the men take turns galloping down the street, reaching up, grabbing the ducks neck, and attempting to tear off its head. This process could last for one attempt, or fifty. I was told that the older the duck is, the more difficult to tear off its head. My observations supported this belief. Once a rider is successful at removing the head, the lucky winner takes off on a sprint around the block, followed in hot pursuit by some of his rivals. When the winner returns he is awarded the duck and a bottle of spirits. Usually one or two more ducks are strung up before the fun is over in that location, whereby the gang moves on to another neighborhood where the event is repeated.

Needless to say, this was quite a mind blowing experience for us to kick off July. I'm not really sure how this could be upstaged. However, everyone assures us that the real good stuff is yet to come. Late July brings horse shows, discotech parties, carnivals, and of course bull riding. More updates and pictures of said events to come.