BARRIO – Hundreds of people in costumes march and dance as they honour the 200-year-old Masayan tradition, celebrating Saint Jeronimo.

The residents of Masaya in southern Nicaragua wear their most terrifying disguises on the last Friday night in October to celebrate the carnival of “Los Agüizotes”, held every year since the mid-twentieth century to commemorate San Jeronimo, the city’s saint.

The festival of myths and legends gathers most of the characters from Nicaragua’s most popular ancestral tales of terror.

The masks are produced by local artists. In the procession of the Agüizotes, you will find approximately a dozen popular music bands called “chicheros”, covering fourteen blocks, in which approximately 10 thousand people in costume dance to music with movements that reflect the costumes they’re wearing.