The day for the big festival has arrived! We saw fancy dressed women passing by in ones and twos as soon as we were awake. Soon the parade of traditional dresses picked up and groups of 8 and 10 started passing by. We made it over to the church where the parade started and were blown away! This is a town that gets behind their local festival. Women of all ages were dressed to the "t' and a smattering of men and boys joined in too. We watched some dancing first then headed into the old town to catch the parade and the carrying of the shrine. In the parade there were two bands, a multitude of local families, local politicians, military types, the clergy and of course the shrine. It took 50 to 75 men, working together, to carry the huge wooden structure. They were working hard and moving slow. Along with the shrine they had ample incense, it was thick and pungent.
Our first sighting
An activity for the entire family
All generations
Each dress a work of art
Some more elaborate than others
A picture of the Lady Rosario on a building in the church square
The uniform was dress, shawl, dangly earrings, a flower in the hair that it either dine up or in a braid and some big cloncky sandles
Dancing!
Dancing like no one is watching
Heading down to the parade
The phones take a bit off of the look
We found our parade watching spot
Lots of folks are walking our way
Bring on the parade!
All decked out
A great hat
Here comes the parade!
Important families carry banners
Not sure of the historical significiance
They may be panels describing the life of the Lady Rosario
There is no shortage of important families
Now we have the staffs
Would this be a pennant?
This one is most elaborate
The hat is back
Military folks too
Two staffs for this guy
Kids were handing out trading cards
A smaller pennant
A family bible perhaps
A pause in the parade
Contrasts
Leslie has her shawl
Perhaps not as fancy as the others
The conclave is convened
Strike up the band!
She is sighted
The incense has been fired up
She had made the turn
She is coming our way
Very fancy Rosario
Down the street she sashays
Back at the church
Lots of people everywhere
Horse folk
Festival!
A blast of yellow in the background
Miss Polly
The local beer crew
No one riding the big wheel
She just hopped off of her motorcycle
Don Juan!
A gum tree
Even with her dress she was keeping a faster pace than we were
