The 25 Strangest days of Christmas Day 25 - The Night of the Radishes: Mexico’s Strangest Christmas Art Festival

0:00 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to the Strange History podcast and

0:03 Speaker 1: Day twenty five of our Victorian Christmas countdown the twenty

0:06 Speaker 1: five Strangest Days of Christmas. Well we did it, folks,

0:10 Speaker 1: twenty five days of podcasts. My advent to you. I

0:13 Speaker 1: must say this was fun and will become a yearly tradition.

0:16 Speaker 1: Next year we will cover something different, but it will

0:19 Speaker 1: be twenty five days of strangeness. We end our holiday

0:23 Speaker 1: world tour in Woajaca, Mexico, where December twenty third is

0:27 Speaker 1: the Night of the Radishes Noce de Rabinos. Artisans carve

0:32 Speaker 1: massive radishes into elaborate sculptures, Nativity scenes, devils, mythical creatures

0:39 Speaker 1: and display them in the town square. The event attracts

0:43 Speaker 1: thousands of visitors every year. It began in the eighteen

0:47 Speaker 1: nineties when farmers decorated vegetables to attract shoppers. The governor

0:52 Speaker 1: loved it so much he made it an annual competition.

0:56 Speaker 1: Some carvings weigh over ten pounds and take days to

0:59 Speaker 1: complete before wilting away overnight. They say beauty fades in Wahaka,

1:05 Speaker 1: It fades in about eight hours.

1:07 Speaker 2: Night of the Radishes. Come for the art, stay for

1:10 Speaker 2: the salad sponsored by let Us Pray get It let Us.

1:15 Speaker 2: I'm sorry we had to end this with a dad joke,

1:17 Speaker 2: but it couldn't be helped.

1:19 Speaker 1: And that, dear listeners, concludes our twenty five days of

1:23 Speaker 1: Strange History Christmas special proof that humanity will go to

1:28 Speaker 1: astonishing lengths to make December interesting, whether you're feeding a

1:33 Speaker 1: log candy, skating to mass or burning effigies of the devil,

1:38 Speaker 1: one thing's for sure, the holidays are never boring, especially

1:42 Speaker 1: if you are a seasoned Ratish carver. I'm amy reminding

1:46 Speaker 1: you to keep your brooms hidden, your candles safe, and

1:50 Speaker 1: your heart open to the weird, the wonderful, and the

1:53 Speaker 1: historically absurd. From all of us at the Strange History Podcast.

1:59 Speaker 1: Happy holidays, and may you're putting only catch fire metaphorically.

2:03 Speaker 2: Hey nerds, don't forget to subscribe. Saint Nick would approve