Cuenca’s holiday festivities continued Friday night as a crowd estimated at 25,000 turned out to observe and participate in the annual Day of the Innocents before rains chased most spectators away. The event, highlighted by a parade and performances on Av. Huayna Capac as thousands of men and boys in drag, theatrical and musical acts and various other representations of strangeness.

Like many of Cuenca’s festivals, the Day of the Innocents was originally a religious celebration that, over the years, took on the trappings of carnival. The event is intended as a remembrance of the King Herod’s death sentence ordered for all Israeli new-borns after the birth of Christ. Cuenca’s version of the event that is celebrated throughout Latin American, is reportedly the largest in Ecuador, and includes an army of boys and young men parading in women’s clothes, women decked out as devils, clowns, floats designed on satirical themes and a bizarre variety of skits.

The event featured plenty of music and food.

The festival, sponsored by Cuenca’s Friendship Club and dozens of local families, is highlighted by a competition among floats and acts, the winners being announced on Monday.