Nejapa Fireball Festival

Las Bolas de Fuego is held at Nejapa on 31 August each year, when two teams of townspeople gather in the main street after dark and throw balls of rag soaked in kerosene at one another, lit, for around an hour, in front of a crowd held back behind barriers. The tradition is explained locally as commemorating an eruption of the San Salvador volcano in 1658 that forced the town to move, recast as a battle between the town's patron San Jeronimo and the devil. Participants wear old clothes, soak themselves in water and paint their faces, and burns are treated by medical teams on site. It has become a significant draw and the town fills.

What you actually see

• The fireball throwing - the two teams exchanging burning rags in the street.
• The crowd barriers - the spectator arrangement along the route.
• Face paint and costume - the participants' preparation.
• The patronal context - the San Jeronimo festival the event sits within.

When to go

31 August only; the event runs in the evening after dark. Arrive well before to get a position behind the barriers. The town has no other draw on ordinary days.

Honest expectations

This is genuinely dangerous: burning material is thrown at close range and burns occur every year among participants and occasionally spectators. Positions behind barriers fill early. Crowds and traffic in and out of Nejapa are heavy. Nothing happens there on other dates.

Nearby

San Salvador lies south; Cihuatan is north.