El Salvador's Bolas de Fuego festival gets underway video
El Salvador's Bolas de Fuego festival gets underway video
Last updated 10:42, September 5 2016
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The San Salvador volcano eruption of 1658 destroyed Nejapa, which during the eruption, incandescent balls of fire
(or bombs) were thrown into the air. This then led to the celebration and tradition of the "Bolas de fuego".
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El Salvador's annual church festival in which young men throw fiery, gasoline-soaked rags at one another in the streets, got underway.
Local residents in the town of Nejapa, located some 30 kilometres north of San Salvador, gather every year, on August 31, to hurl fireballs at one another in honour of a huge volcanic eruption in 1658 that forced all of the residents to abandon the town.
Younger fireball throwers, see the event as a "rough" tradition.
"It's a tradition which is very ours. We know the rules of the game. You know you're going to get burnt but it's part of the adrenaline, part of the adrenaline to feel the fire. Each one of us, those you see here, is conscious they can get burnt. They can get hurt. It's a rough game to throw balls of fire and they are thrown hard," said festival participant, Carlos Diaz.
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More:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/destinations/south-america/83899051/el-salvadors-bolas-de-fuego-festival-gets-underway
