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Driving into San Juan from La Virgen on the morning of December 31 was more exciting than ever. The usual game of strategically dodging the potholes was enlivened by a multitude of “Año Viejos” (old years) along the roadside. Life-size dolls stuffed with straw, paper, fireworks and other highly incendiary materials were sitting on porches, standing under trees, perched on chairs on the shoulder of the highway, or linked arm in arm with a compatriot.

PHOTO: DanCesar.com

Some were dressed quite fine, others in old clothes. Some had elaborate expressions, others a simple face. Some grasped empty beer cans or liquor bottles in their hands. Each one a unique creation reflecting it’s maker. The one thing they had in common was that they were filled with all the negativity from the past year. After their day in the sun they were destined to burn at midnight to do away with the old year’s trials and tribulations and to clear the way for a positive new year. This Nicaraguan tradition is celebrated with greater gusto in San Juan del Sur than anywhere else in the country. In San Juan proper the sidewalks abounded with the funny scarecrow-like dolls.

As the evening progressed, at least one Año Viejo got the royal treatment: paraded through town on a throne in the back of a pick-up truck followed by a very lively15-piece band. Lights, smoke, and noise filled the air as more and more people came into the streets, children squealing with sizzling sparklers in hand, adults laughing and scrambling away from a hot lit fuse. Music boomed from every corner loudly celebrating the approaching end of another year. Families and friends gathered on patios and verandas to eat and drink together, watching the festivities.

At around midnight, “mas o menos” (more or less) the grand finale began with enormous fireworks shooting up from many different spots along the beach and the hillsides. The competing lightshows illuminated the sky with a brilliant magical glittering display. And down below the Año Viejos were dragged out into the open and set on fire.

The drive through town was wonderfully surreal and awing as street after street was blocked with these strange burning bodies, legs and arms spread wide, hissing and popping as fireworks ignited inside. The scene was repeated along the roads in smaller communities surrounding San Juan as well. People celebrated well into the morning. And now that the Old Year is nothing but ashes scattered in the wind, the way for an abundant and blessed New Year is clear.

A powerful communal ceremony indeed.

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