The Day of the Devil

We have been seeing these pinate looking things around town. In hind sight I should have taken a picture of them so that you could see what they look like. If you can imagine a mexican santa with a handlebar mustache  ... Anyway, that has been my impression of them. HOWEVER, it turns out that they are DEVILS. (Who would have known?) ... what? Christmas is coming ... devil pinates???  When I picked Jacob up from school today he told me that we should get home before dark because people are burning "devils"....ahhhhh.... so that is what they do ... they don't hit them for candy ...they are burning him...them.... Anyway, my neighbors put their "devil" on a concrete block and lit him up. I was so curious that I begged Grace (who is very  non confrontational ) to go with me for better translation. She did end up going but cracked me up with her initial response... she looked at me very seriously and said," mom... do I have to .. what if they get angry....they ARE BURNING HIM... I THINK THEY'RE WITH US...tooo funny... but my begging won her over and she finally obliged my curiosity... turns out that the devils being burned is a way to clean out their old sins and clutter ti make way for Jesus in their homes. By burning him they are saying that he no longer has a place in their home ...at least for this season.. this is called the day of the devil.