Patronales

People here in Panama are hardcore Catholics and take all the holidays and festivals seriously. Every year in every community they have something called patronales which is the day that they celebrate their patron saint, well its actually 9 days long. Its nine days of mass that end the last day with a big mass and then a huge party afterwards. My town definately likes to have a good time and party and this day was no exception and was probably one of the biggest party days they have had since I have been there. The day of patronales in La Mesa was January 16th. They had a huge mass in the morning then had huge party the rest of the day, people from all over the country came for the party. They had Los Plumas Negras play which are a traditional Panamanian band that are very popular and who usually only play in big cities so its kind of a big deal. They also had a discoteca going too (which is a big dancw with a hired DJ). They had cockfights going on from 7pm till 2am. It was a good time, I had some friends come visit that day and hang out. It was a good time. I have some video from the cockfights, check them out.







This happened about 20 feet from my house.