Pelota Tata, or, Flaming ball, for you English speaking folk

June 29th is the festival of the Patron Saint in my town. I was in Asuncion and missed the big festivities, but thankfully they do the best part the night before! So that night, I went to the church around 7, once it was dark out. I had heard of this “flaming ball” thing before, but it’s hard to really understand what someone means unless you see if first hand. (Apologies on the photography. I suck at taking night pictures, and when you add fast moving balls of fire…. Well, you will see how that goes).

Basically, they take these rags, or some sort of material, and soak it in alcohol. Then comes the fun part – you light it on fire! They have about 10 of these balls that they light, and all the guys are running around kicking it at each other. Everyone else is standing on the sides, running away anytime a ball gets near. It’s pretty hilarious!

Then, there is this ‘bull’ structure thing, where they attach 2 flaming balls to the horns. Then a guy picks it up and puts it on, running around and chasing after his friends with it. Possibly one of the funniest things I have ever seen (especially when the guy running with it full on wiped out).

The last thing they did with them was attach the balls to rope and a stick, and swing them around (while chasing after their friends, of course). This was also hilarious, until one of the balls got loose and flew into a tree. Thankfully, it fell out without much damage.

One of the funniest, scariest, and most dangerous things I have ever seen. So glad I didn’t miss it!!