Night of the Radishes
21.08.2023 - 11:54
/ theunconventionalgardener.com
/ Emma Doughty
When you think about Christmas plants you probably think about holly and ivy, possibly Christmas trees and poinsetties, and maybe even Brussels sprouts and parsnips. But I bet you don’t think about radishes. And yet, the humble radish (Raphanus sativus) plays an important role in the Christmas festivities in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Every year, on December 23rd, they have a Christmas night market. This was traditionally when people bought the food items they would need for Christmas, but since 1897 it has been a very special event – La Noche de las Rábanos, the night of the radishes.
The townspeople of Oaxaca have developed radish carving into a fine art, and the night market has developed into a fiesta during which more than a hundred radish tableaux are displayed, with everything from the Nativity to the Last Supper carved into radishes. The best display wins a prize of around $1000, and the fiesta brings crowds from across Mexico and beyond. It’s not unusual to have to queue for four or five hours to see these short-lived displays.
Actually, these radishes are not humble at all. They’re not the standard salad radish we all grow so quickly in our summer gardens. These are monsters – up to 50 cm long and weighing in at up to 3 kg. When Oaxaca expanded and consumed all the nearby agricultural land, the city stepped in and took over cultivation of the monster radishes. In 2014 they produced 12 tonnes, distributed to competitors who have to register months in advance. Heavily fertilized, chemically sprayed and left to mature in the ground until just days before the competition, the radishes are overgrown, and have contorted into odd shapes. They are no longer considered suitable for human consumption, but radish tableaux are just the
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