After Dinner Devils

Everybody is gearing up for Carnival/Mardi Gras!

Here is the game we see almost nightly now. . .After dinner, everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY!) heads out to the main street and town plaza for a stroll. About a dozen teenage boys in black and red devil costumes covered lots of little bells, spiky fringe down their arms and legs, big anklets of bells, and topped with a black hood or an elaborate paper mache mask, run around cracking little whips, stomping their feet, and roaring. Everyone cheers and eggs them on.

Dozens of other little grade school aged boys, not dressed like devils, but also brandishing homemade rope-on-a-stick whips, will sneak up behind one of the devils, and try to crack their whip around the devil´s heels, then run like hell.

The devils´ job is to stomp, roar, and chase down all the little boys who just snuck up on them, and then try to snap their own devil whips around the offending non-devil boys´ heels. It is a big game of chase all around the plaza, and everyone cheers for the little boys, and eggs on the older devils. If one of the little boys gets caught, the devils yell and roar at him, and he has to grovel, and sometimes do push-ups for the older boy or even give up his little whip. This, of course, leads to a game of trying to steal the whip back from the devil. It is so fun!

Around 8 pm, one of the two town Mardi Gras bands practices for an hour or so in front of the fire station. A bunch of kids gather around to dance and goof off, or play with fake snakes they drag around by a string to try to scare the white tourist ladies. Said tourist ladies are not expecting to see a snake (ask me how I know). A few other neighbors pull up plastic lawn chairs, bring a big glass of something cold to drink, and enjoy the music. The video below is crummy, and the audio is even worse, but it least gives you a little bit of an idea of how fun band practice is. I drag Ian there every evening I can for the nightly neighborhood dance party.