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Every year in the old, colonial town of Leon, the town celebrates a special Nicaraguan folkloric tradition - there is a parade of dancing dolls and a dance competition in the town center. Artists make the giant dolls, known as gigantones. They are about 15 feet tall. Each gigantone has a name on her sash - Margareta, Victoria, Maribel. Someone hides under the long skirt of each doll and parades them through the streets. The bob, dance, and swing their arms and hair to the beat of drums. Other kids walk and dance with the parade. There are also brightly colored bull costumes with young boys hiding in them. Kids playfully push and bump the bulls.

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The parade makes its way to the main courtyard where loudspeakers blast rock music and rap. There is a mix of old and new dance traditions - the key is to dance, however you want! Kids of all ages dance until the evening competition begins. Each gigantone steps up on stage with her own personal drummers and a man who tells her story in rhyme, to the drumbeat, through the microphone. It's like folk stories told to a rap! The crowd dances and discusses which gigantone they like best. The judges choose one beautiful doll, the best dancer, to be the winner of the competition!

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Abeja