While traveling in Oaxaca, Mexico, I had the good fortune to witness the Festival of St. James being celebrated in the mountain village of Ixcuintepec. I had returned to the village, where I had been staying for a few days before a short trip to a nearby but significantly less developed community, just hours before the festivities started. St. James is the patron saint of Ixcuintepec, and the town boasts a sizable Catholic church, so the festival was quite the production.

It began with a narrative performance involving elaborately costumed men and boys, with choreographed movements to the beat of a drum interspersed with dialogue read from a script. I wish I knew what the performance represented – I was too busy taking photos to investigate its meaning. That evening a spectacular fireworks display took place in the church plaza, only the spectacle was not in the sky. Men ran circles in the plaza with wireframe bulls held over their heads, strapped with pinwheels and fireworks. A marching band ensemble played music intermittently from one side, and a few elderly men danced drunkenly in the center.

The festival lasted for several days. From early morning to late at night boys launched firecrackers, the band marched through the streets, music blared from the government building’s PA system, and drunken youths loitered around the town center. Once a day men and women processed through the streets with candles, figurines, and balloons. The festival came across as more cultural than religious, and I wish I had a better understanding of its meaning and history in Mexico, but it was a fascinating event to witness and photograph.