Day 23: Night of the Radishes

Noche de Rábanas.  Night of the Radishes.  It’s a real thing, people, and it totally hijacked my salad thoughts today. 

It’s an annual event held in Oaxaca, Mexico on December 23 and it involves intricate carvings of … you guessed it … radishes.

I am not making this up.

Apparently the radish carvings began as an attempt to entice people to come to the Christmas market more than 100 years ago. It worked.  Now the city grows special radishes just for the competition. Treated with heavy chemicals and fertilizers and allowed to grow much longer than usual, they can be 50 cm long and weight up to 6 pounds. 

I am not making this up.

Contestants (up to 100 or so) register months in advance and are given their allotted freakishly large (and inedible) radishes on December 18 so they can plan a scene based on what they have to work with.  They can’t start carving, though, until December 23.  Since the radishes wilt quickly after being carved, the judging happens on the same day that the carving does.  People will wait 5-6 hours to see the radish carvings.

Isn’t the world just an amazing place?  And doesn’t this seem like further encouragement to stay in the present?