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Agüizotes and Torovenado festivities in Masaya

ViaNica.com | Oct 25, 2007

This weekend the town of Masaya will host two large and colorful traditional events related to the celebrations of San Jerónimo, the patron of Masaya. The procession of Los Agüizotes will take place on Friday night (October 26), and Gran Torovenado del Pueblo on Sunday afternoon (October 28).

Both processions are organized by Cofradía del Gran Torovenado and follow a similar route: they start at Plaza Magdalena, in the Monimbó neighborhood; they then spend six hours proceeding through the main streets. Even though the two routes differ somewhat, they both end on Plaza Pedro Joaquín, on the Avenida Real Monimbó, opposite of the Salesiano Don Bosco school.

The night of Los Agüizotes

Los Agüizotes takes place every year, on the night of the last Friday of October. This year (2007), the last Friday will be on October 26, and the festivities will start at 7 PM and end at midnight. The joyful procession will consist of people wearing creative and scary costumes, in line with the myths and legends of Nicaragua, and are accompanied by traditional music played by philharmonic bands also known as “chicheros”.

The event is always massive, with over 3,000 dressed-up participants and a total of around 10,000 people present, taking the thousands of spectators into account. These numbers come from the Masayan culture journalist Orlando Blanco Galo, who also pointed out that this Nicaraguan tradition should not be confused with foreign celebrations, such as Halloween.

El Gran Torovenado

El Gran Torovenado del Pueblo is one of the “torovenados” that take place in Masaya as patronage festivals. This specific celebration takes place on the last Sunday of October, which is October 28 this year. The procession starts at noon and takes place till 6 PM.

El Torovenado is also a joyful procession, filled with creativity and costumes, and with the pleasant music of the chicheros. Even though this procession has fewer participants than los Agüizotes, it gives out prizes to the people with the costumes that give the best representation of the national traditions.

Besides dressing up, many participants organize near-theatrical performances that deal with social issues. For example, many people wear costumes to ridicule politicians or public officials, or to make fun of specific national or local situations. This tradition comes with a lot of cheerful naughtiness.

Both Nicaraguans and foreigners with a curiosity for Nicaraguan culture are invited to attend these interesting events in Masaya.