My Kind of Bullfight

One of Oaxaca's traditions is the Calenda, a processional through city streets that typically begins and ends at a church. The original ulterior motive of the calenda was to create a spectacle to entice passerby into attending Catholic mass and then converting. For a happy atheist, it's just a great street party. There's always music and manic dancing. People carry long wooden sticks holding lanterns of colored cellophane with candles burning inside, creating a moody glow. At some point, if you're lucky, there is the fake bullfight. Sometimes a couple cute senoritas entice the bull with the red sashes tied around their waists. In this picture, the bull appears to be made of actual skin; the ones I've seen before were paper mache, pinata-like figures.