Witches, devils scare you straight in indigenous Nicaragua festival

Thousands of people dressed as terrifying characters from fables and legends have taken to the streets in a Nicaraguan festival heavy on fright.

The Aguizotes festival, held in an indigenous neighborhood in the city of Masaya, is known for local artisans' spectacularly spooky masks.

Music for the event, in the town south of Managua, is cool in its own right — a hypnotizing soundtrack of drums, cymbals, trumpets, trombones, and tubas.

"Our grandfathers and grandmothers did this to instill fear in future generations — so that they would do the right things," William Guerrero, decked out in a red devil's mask, told AFP.

The festival is held on the last Friday of each October.

Characters include a black devil with enormous horns and a Witch of the Volcano. Another traditional character, the "nagua" or haunted cart, travels through town at night making a clamorous noise. Driving it — dressed in a white tunic and carrying his signature scythe — is the figure of "Death."

Several family workshops produce masks for the festival. Artisan Fermina Lopez, 39, told AFP that she inherited her mask workshop.

Lester Espinoza, 42, told AFP that his family workshop made more than 1,000 masks for the carnival.

"It starts out as a kind of dough, and then we put it in the mold and we begin to style the mask."