TETELA DEL VOLCAN, Mexico (AP) 鈥 Every year, the winding mountain streets of Tetela del Volc谩n are filled with a crush of vivid yellows, purples, greens, oranges and blues.
Hundreds of what appear to be human-sized caterpillars with elaborate stripes bob along the road.
Shaggy tissue paper hats resembling caterpillars sit atop the heads of men and women wearing bearded and mustached leather masks, and colored capes adorned with images of Jesus and Virgin Mary. The characters they portray are known as 鈥渟ayones鈥.
These elaborate costumes, imitations of Roman soldiers, are part of a cherished Easter celebration dating back 350 years in the central Mexican town. Residents of town, which sits pressed up next to Mexico鈥檚 active Popocat茅petl volcano, prepare for months for the three-day celebration every Easter weekend.
'It's part of our essence'
鈥淭he tradition, it鈥檚 part of our essence,鈥 said Jos茅 Alfredo Jimenez, the town鈥檚 director of tourism and culture. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something that gives us our originality as Tetelans. No one else in Mexico does anything like this, it鈥檚 unique.鈥
Jimenez said the celebration came to be when European colonizers arrived to Latin America and attempted to evangelize local Indigenous communities to Catholicism, often spreading their religion through theatrical performances portraying figured from the crucifixion of Jesus, including Roman soldiers.
Throughout the years, the tradition grew to take on its own identity, mixing with local Mexican customs like many Easter and Holy Week celebrations across Latin America.
The hats of the sayones, meant to imitate the helmets worn by Roman soldiers, are the dominant part of the celebration, and have gradually grown more elaborate over the past 25 years as residents have sought to out-do each other.
Imitate the helmets worn by Roman soldiers
The hats were little more than vertical arm-length tufts when Jimenez began to participate as a teenager, but have slowly turned into two-meter-long, multi-colored puffs teetering on people鈥檚 heads as they march through the streets. Every year, residents pick new colors for their costume, from deep yellows and reds, to brilliant pinks and blues.
This year, 20-year-old Eduardo Canizal chose a three-pronged pink and black tissue paper structure, fastened to a black cowboy hat and with a cushion on the back of his neck to support the hat鈥檚 weight. Others fasten them onto construction hats or metal wire.
鈥淓very year, you want to do something bigger, better and you keep going,鈥 he said.
He said the hat is made up of around 900 sheets of tissue paper, which he began to cut into thin threads by hand over a month before.
Shortly before the procession, Canizal pulled on delicate pink cloaks, leather boots and a mask before heading out to the march.
鈥淭his weighs like 15-20 kilos (35-40 pounds), If I had to guess,鈥 he said, leaning over and using his body鈥檚 momentum to swing the hat over his head.
Figures from story of Jesus' crucifixion
They march through the streets, clanging machetes, meant to imitate Roman swords, on the rocky earth. Others dress up as key figures in the Catholic story of the Jesus鈥 crucifixion like Pontius Pilate and Judas, who is chased through the streets of Tetela del Volc谩n.
Jimenez, the town鈥檚 cultural director, said it鈥檚 a celebration the town has clung to as other Easter marches and traditions like Mexico鈥檚 Day of the Dead have been flooded by tourists, often watering down longtime traditions.
In Tetela, more than a thousand people participated this year, he said, yet the celebration still remains local at its heart.
鈥淵ou put on your mask, and everything changes, you transform,鈥 Jimenez said. 鈥淲e still try to keep alive this mystical side, Tetela鈥檚 signature, especially as we鈥檝e seen other cultural activities suffer a change, a transformation for better or for worse.鈥
Cloaks portraying religious figures are delicately embroidered and some like Emilio Aguilar, 20, begin creating intricate designs with sequins and beads as early as July.
鈥淵ou do this little by little, on your free time,鈥 he said, waving his and over a two-food long embroidery of the Virgin Mary emblazoned on his back.
Aguilar, and a group of 12 friends and relatives, each dress identically in white and pastel colored hats.
Efforts go up in smoke
But all of those efforts quite literally go up in smoke at the end of the Easter celebration.
On Sunday afternoon, the costumed marchers solemnly lay a bouquet of flowers at the base of a stone church, then trek up a winding mountain slope trailed by paramedics.
As they run, neighbors, police officers and screaming little boys sling matches at the men until their paper hats burst into flames, often to the roar of the crowd. While authorities try to keep the flames confined to a stadium, celebrations quickly spill onto the streets.
Aguilar said it鈥檚 their way of paying penance on the Catholic holiday.
鈥淎fter all these months of work, it鈥檚 a sacrifice of all the work that went into these,鈥 he said.
