WEBVTT - Why Carve Radishes for Christmas?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vohllebaum. Here. December is jam packed with holidays and

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<v Speaker 1>holiday related parties, and one you don't want to miss

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<v Speaker 1>out on is Mexico's Noche de las Romanos, or the

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<v Speaker 1>Night of the Radishes. Every December twenty third in Wahaka,

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<v Speaker 1>the main Square comes alive with sculptures of dragons, balligators,

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<v Speaker 1>local celebrities, religious figures, and even politicians, all carved from

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<v Speaker 1>huge wonky shaped radishes in shades of deep purple to red,

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<v Speaker 1>with contrasting creamy white interiors revealed by the carvings. The

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<v Speaker 1>Night of the Radishes is a one hundred and twenty

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<v Speaker 1>seven year old Christmas time tradition in this predominantly Catholic city,

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<v Speaker 1>where artists vie for the best sculpted radish display, which

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<v Speaker 1>can earn cash prizes worth several hundred bucks and year

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<v Speaker 1>long bragging rights. The radishes are native to Mexico. They

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<v Speaker 1>were brought over by Spanish colonizers back in the fifteen hundreds,

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<v Speaker 1>and these and other European crops and livestock spread among

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<v Speaker 1>the many indigenous peoples already living there during the colonial period.

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<v Speaker 1>Wahaka was a very small city situated in a lush,

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<v Speaker 1>fertile valley. Harvests from local farms were so plentiful that

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<v Speaker 1>farmers brought much of their bounty to sell at the

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<v Speaker 1>city market. At the time, the market was set up

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<v Speaker 1>near the cathedral in what's now Wahaca's main Square. This

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<v Speaker 1>story goes that at some point in these seventeen hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>or so, the crop of radishes was so abundant that

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<v Speaker 1>a portion of them weren't dug up during the spring

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<v Speaker 1>harvest and were instead left to continue growing. And radishes

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<v Speaker 1>will grow far past the cute, round, ping pong ball

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<v Speaker 1>sized things that you usually get in the grocery store,

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<v Speaker 1>with limbs and bulbs growing off of that main tuber,

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<v Speaker 1>so that December, someone possibly some Dominican monks finally pulled

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<v Speaker 1>up those and thought these look weirdly like people or

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<v Speaker 1>like demons, and were so entertained that they showed them

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<v Speaker 1>off that year at the Christmas market in that main square,

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<v Speaker 1>possibly leading to intentional copycats in the following years. The

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<v Speaker 1>tradition of carving radishes may have started as a way

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<v Speaker 1>for clever farmers and other market sellers to lure customers

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<v Speaker 1>to their stalls. Wahaka had even at the time, a

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<v Speaker 1>long standing tradition of beautiful, intricate wood carving, and it

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<v Speaker 1>weirdly makes sense that local wood carvers took a fancy

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<v Speaker 1>to the giant radishes on display and decided to carve

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<v Speaker 1>them into, for example, Nativity scenes to entice Christmas market shoppers.

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<v Speaker 1>In eighteen ninety seven, Wahaka's municipal president decided to make

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<v Speaker 1>the Ratish carved Nativity scene tradition official and created a

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<v Speaker 1>competition to be held on December twenty third. It became

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<v Speaker 1>a yearly thing and expanded to include a greater variety

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<v Speaker 1>of figures. To participate in the Night of the Bratish's

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<v Speaker 1>Carving competition, entrants need to use specific radishes cultivated by

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<v Speaker 1>the government on land near the city's airport. The city

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<v Speaker 1>plants them over a three month period so that by

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<v Speaker 1>harvest time they come in different sizes. Some are small,

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<v Speaker 1>but they can get quite big, up to around thirty

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<v Speaker 1>inches long that's eighty centimeters and weighing over six and

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<v Speaker 1>a half pounds or about three kilos. Some can be

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<v Speaker 1>as big around as a human head. Each entrant is

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<v Speaker 1>assigned a plot number based on the order in which

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<v Speaker 1>they signed up. Then, four days before the event, entrants

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<v Speaker 1>are allowed to harvest the ratishes in their assigned plot.

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<v Speaker 1>As of twenty seventeen, fourteen metric tons of radishes were

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<v Speaker 1>harvested for the festival from that land. Once the ratishes

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<v Speaker 1>are harvested, participants spend the next few days and sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>sleepless nights, cleaning and carving them. On December twenty third,

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<v Speaker 1>they head over to the square to assemble their often

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<v Speaker 1>elaborate m piece Ratish displays. Again, in twenty seventeen, one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and forty three Ratish crafters displayed their carved works,

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<v Speaker 1>including eighty two kids. Visitors who now come by the thousands,

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<v Speaker 1>stroll through the square to watch the artist's fine tune

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<v Speaker 1>their root vegetable masterpieces, among music, food and fireworks. Around

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<v Speaker 1>nine o'clock that night, judging takes place based on beauty,

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<v Speaker 1>technical skill, and creativity, and then three winners are named

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<v Speaker 1>in each category. The two primary categories in the modern

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<v Speaker 1>day Night of the Rats's competition are traditional or free.

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<v Speaker 1>The traditional category requires the Ratish displays to reflect Wahwking culture.

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<v Speaker 1>In the free category, your radishes can do whatever you want.

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<v Speaker 1>There are additional categories for scenes made with corn husks

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<v Speaker 1>and scenes made with dried flowers. The masterpieces these artists

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<v Speaker 1>create would be impressive even if they were not made

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<v Speaker 1>of vegetables. Look them up when you get a chain,

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<v Speaker 1>but think intricate, mission style, architecture, Egyptian gods, scenes from Mezcal,

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<v Speaker 1>production replicas of Michelangelo and Da Vinci's works, and yes,

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<v Speaker 1>many Nativity scenes. Radishes are, of course, a perishable vegetable,

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<v Speaker 1>and one of the biggest challenges besides having the skill

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<v Speaker 1>or talent to carve radishes, is keeping them fresh so

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<v Speaker 1>that they're still perky and bright red and white throughout

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<v Speaker 1>the night of the competition. Participants have different techniques for this,

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<v Speaker 1>but it usually involves regularly doubting them with water. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article Mexico's Night of the Radishes,

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<v Speaker 1>a quirky Christmas predition on how Stuffworks dot Com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by Jennifer Walker. Journey brain Stuff is production of by

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot Com, and

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<v Speaker 1>is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my Heart Radio,

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