Fire without the brimstone in El Salvador

September 02, 2006

Young men throwing gasoline-soaked rags set on fire at one another is not usual religious practice, but in El Salvador the practice has become an annual church occasion. Locals in the town of Nejapa (located some 30 kilometers north of San Salvador) gather every August 31 to hurl fire balls at one another in honor of a huge volcanic eruption that forced all of the residents to abandon the town back in 1922. Despite the apparent dangers, few serious injuries are reported, as the aim it more often to scare rather than scar.