San Salvador celebrates to honour the divine saviour of the world

The streets of San Salvador were filled with a million colours and hundreds of people as the festivities of El Divino Salvador del Mundo (The Divine Saviour of The World), patron saint of the capital city of El Salvador, began on August 1. (Reuters)

Updated on: Aug 02, 2016 3:55 PM IST

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The streets of San Salvador were filled with a million colours and hundreds of people as the festivities of El Divino Salvador del Mundo (The Divine Saviour of The World), patron saint of the capital city of El Salvador, began on August 1. (Reuters)

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Updated on Aug 02, 2016 3:55 PM

The patron saint and namesake of El Salvador—El Salvador del Mundo (the Saviour of the World)— is honoured with a national festival every year. (Reuters)

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The festival proceedings commence the week before the Saint’s Day, on August 6, which is also the same day as the Feast of the Transfiguration. Some Salvadorans refer to the festival as Fiestas Agostinos (August Feasts). (Reuters)

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The observance of the festival dates back to 1525, the year that the city of San Salvador, the present-day capital, was founded. (AFP)

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The grandest of the celebrations take place in that city, but there are also observances throughout the rest of the country and in Salvadoran communities settled abroad. (AFP)

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The main events of the festival are a religious procession, a large fair, various sporting events, a beauty contest, and a riotous party featuring street floats and dancers. (AFP)

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The religious ceremony takes place in front of the national cathedral and entails a spectacle known as la bajada (the descent). (AFP)

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High school cheerleaders participate in the opening parade of the festivities of El Divino Salvador del Mundo (The Divine Saviour of The World). (Reuters)

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The festive ritual features an old wooden image of Christ that is paraded through the streets and then lowered inside a wooden shell. There the sculpture’s purple garments are removed, and it emerges from the shell appareled in gleaming white robes, a symbolic representation of Christ’s transfiguration. (Reuters)

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Hundreds of Salvadoreans take to the streets every year in celebration of their patron saint. (AFP)

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Salvadoreans dress up as mythological characters, participate in role-play, fancy dress and other such revelries throughout the week-long celebrations. (AFP)