Mexico: The night of the radish An extremely unusual Christmas custom is the celebration of radish in the Mexican town Oaxaca. Every year the celebration takes place on the 23rd of December to remind of the day when this vegetable came to Mexico for the first time. Spanish colonialists took radish to Mexico in the middle of the 18th century. But the Mexican radish of today has not much in common anymore with the red hot vegetable the Spanish had once brought to Central America. The Mexican clones have the size of a potatoes and they are shaped in a bizarre way; this has to do with the stony ground on which they grow. The way this vegetable is shaped inspired Mexican artists and so every year on Christmas they carve the figures for the crib out of the radish. The best figures win a prize and the highlight of the 'Night of the Radish' are the big fireworks. These are colorful processions where Mary's and Joseph's search for accomodation is played After the Mass nine decorated earthenware vessels, called "Pinatas", are let down from the ceiling of the church. The blindfolded churchgoers have to smash these vessels before they are allowed to eat the fruit and sweets in them. Everybody has three attempts to hit the vessels with a stick. First the children try their luck, then it's the grown up's turn. Reference: Content-Team Globalheads GmbH