burn, el kookooee, BURN!

gus and 2007's el kookooee (the statue is different every year)

last night gus and i went to the 19th burning of el kookooee (or el cucuí) in the south valley. it was awesome--this year el kookooee was a 20-foot high lizard-y, snake-like creature with a speared effigy of dick cheney in his left hand. i didn't actually recognize cheney--he had "dicky" painted on his shirt--then someone clued me in...

the purpose of burning el kookooee is to purge your fears and anxieties by writing them down on a piece of paper and then stuffing it inside the monster. gus added one piece of paper (flu shots--he had an anaphylactic reaction to his last year) and i added four pieces of paper (a sheet for my sister, PANDAS, a possible lawsuit against alitalia and another thing i won't disclose here). and then el kookooee was ready to go. the burning of cheney wasn't to do away with cheney as a person but to do away with the fears he has and imparts to the american people. i have to say, i kinda dug it. (as an aside, i am fully aware that not everyone agrees with my political views--ahem, mom, dad, ashley, mr. cheney--and to that i say the beauty of living in america is freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom to get your own blog and write whatever the hell you want on it. please don't email me about the cheney thing as i did not create the effigy, i just liked it...)

before it was lit up there was about 45 minutes of ceremonial dancing done by aztec dancers from the south valley--they were great. i filmed a bit of it and i will try and load the (compressed) video. are the videos working? anyway, gus and i had a fantastic time and i totally recommend it for anyone looking for an annual purge of fears. it seems a very healthy thing to do. el kookooee is different from santa fe's zozobra in that "Zozobra, or Old Man Gloom, is burned in effigy to symbolically dispel the hardships and travails of the past year." (from the zozobra website) and kookooee is to purge fears, which are probably more controlling and damaging than hardships anyway. that and zozobra is crazy commercial and kookooee is like a neighborhood bonfire with really good dancers and the fire department on hand.

i think gus and i were on TV last night as well--did anyone watch channel 4? we were interviewed but rich and i got too hung up on the world series and we forgot to watch for it! oh well. enjoy!


the cheney effigy--again, not to kill cheney himself, just the fears...


the dancer's procession to el kookooee


more dancers


the flare is lit!


and kookooee starts to smolder


burn, baby, burn!


i love this shot--gus was yelling "dicky's on fire! and it's like liar, liar, pants on fire!" (he's in the lower right-hand corner.)


el kookooee started to get a little out of control, and the fire department had to step in to put out the grass fire


that's it--no more fears in 2007!