Festa San Lorenzo
Festa San Lorenzo in the island of Principe (West Africa)
Compare this Moros y Cristianos festival with the ones which take place in Alcoy or Caravaca de la Cruz. The enthusiasm here is exactly the same, if not greater. The principal differences lie in the racial origins of the people taking part and in the amount of money that they have available to spend on their costumes.
One might imagine that the reconquest of Iberia by the Christians was an event which is of little relevance to the people of Principe - but they don't see it that way. Roman Catholicism is still the principal religion here, and so the men are happy to celebrate its victory over Islam. Not that many of them have ever stopped to consider what it is that they are actually celebrating; they are celebrating because the Festa San Lorenzo has always been the most important holiday of the year.
Unlike their Spanish and Portuguese counterpart, these guys do not muck about with parades and processions. Their tribute to the Reconquesta consists of a play which is acted out, over the course of the three day celebraton, in the streets of their little town. When the men are not engaged in making carefully rehearsed speeches to their troops, they spend the time battling with their wooden swords. Eventually, the "goodies" recapture the town hall from the Moors.
Another difference between this African celebration and the equivalent Iberian ones is that this is an all male undertaking.
The chaps in this photo are some of the Christians. The Moors wear similar amounts of tin foil and cotton wool, but their principal colour is red.