23rd Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Travel
Danza con el gigante de fuego

Every March 8 in Tultepec, the capital of fireworks and home of the masters and warriors of fire, the patron saint of fireworks, San Juan de Dios, and the ancestral god of fire, Huehueteotl, are celebrated. People spend weeks or months working on their bull that will be burned as part of the devotional offering of fire, blood and fireworks as proof of their faith and bravery. And that is how that night becomes the same hell on earth where thousands of people dance the dance of fire around and under the fire and sparks that become stars becoming for a few moments a party in the universe.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 03.2023
Date Uploaded: 12.2025
Photo Location: Tultepec Estado de México, Mexico
Camera: X-T3
Copyright: © Antonio Flores Garcia