Every January, on Saint Sebastian Day, the streets of Piornal, Spain, fill with residents armed with turnips, seeking to punish the Jarramplas. The Jarramplas is a devil-like character portrayed by a man wearing a costume made from colorful strips of fabric, a frightening mask, and body armor underneath. In a centuries-old tradition, he walks the streets and beats a drum while residents throw turnips at him as a punishment for stealing cattle. The exact origin of the festival are not known, various theories exist from the mythological punishment of Caco by Hercules, to a cattle thief ridiculed and expelled by his neighbors.
The 2016 Jarramplas Festival
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Read morePeople throw turnips at the Jarramplas as he makes his way through the streets beating his drum, during the Jarramplas festival in Piornal, Spain, on January 20, 2016. Hundreds of people were running through the streets of a tiny town in southwestern Spain, chasing a fancy-dressed, beast-like figure, and pelting it with turnips. #
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Read moreA Jarramplas mask lies on the ground before the start of the Jarramplas festival in Piornal, Spain, on January 20, 2016. #
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Read moreArmando Vicente, 30, is helped to put on his armored Jarramplas costume before he makes his way through the streets in Piornal, Spain, on January 20, 2016. #
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Read moreA man holds turnips as he waits with others for the Jarramplas to make his way through the streets of Piornal on January 20, 2016. #
Francisco Seco / AP -
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Read moreArmando Vicente Vicente puts on protective gear as he gets dressed as Jarramplas on January 20, 2016. #
Susana Vera / Reuters -
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Read morePeople throw turnips at the Jarramplas as he makes his way through the streets beating his drum on January 20, 2016. #
Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty -
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Read morePeople throw turnips at the Jarramplas in Piornal on January 20, 2016. #
Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty -
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Read moreRevelers throw turnips at the Jarramplas on January 20, 2016. #
Susana Vera / Reuters -
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Read morePeople protect themselves from revelers throwing turnips at the Jarramplas in Piornal, Spain, on January 19, 2016. #
Susana Vera / Reuters -
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Read morePeople prepare to throw turnips at the Jarramplas on January 20, 2016. #
Susana Vera / Reuters -
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Read morePeople hurl turnips at the Jarramplas as he makes his way through the streets beating his drum on January 20, 2016. #
Francisco Seco / AP -
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Read morePeople throw hundreds of turnips at the Jarramplas on January 20, 2016. #
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Read morePeople chase the Jarramplas during the Jarramplas Festival on January 20, 2016. #
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Read moreThe Jarramplas is pelted near a fountain in Piornal on January 20, 2016. #
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Read morePeople throw turnips at the Jarramplas on January 20, 2016. #
Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty -
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Read morePeople chase the Jarramplas, throwing turnips on January 20, 2016. #
Francisco Seco / AP -
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Read moreThe Jarramplas kneels with his drum in the streets of Piornal on January 19, 2016. #
Susana Vera / Reuters -
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Read moreStewards help Jarramplas Armando Vicente Vicente out of his costume after making his way through the streets during the Jarramplas Festival on January 20, 2016. #
Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty
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