Jarramplas - Bring your turnip to the slaughter

The Jarramplas Festival takes place in Piornal, in the Spanish region of Extremadura, every year on the 19th-20th of January. 

The focus of events is the costumed 'cattle rustler' named el Jarrampla, who wears a cloak of multicoloured rags and is adorned with a great horned mask. Played by a 'lucky' volunteer, the thief runs around the 1,200-strong town banging a little drum while local people throw turnips - two tonnes of turnips to be precise - in an attempt to expel him for another year.  

Next day's bruises must be about as colourful as the costume.

Local legend has it that a thief snuck in to the village one night to steal the ranchers' animals, but didn't reckon on the townsfolk who used everything to hand - mainly turnips - to fend him off. The reenactment of that night has been played out every year for over a century. 

 Like most fiestas it also serves as an excuse for music and merrymaking, and the festivities spill out onto the streets for the whole day. Far from ignominy, being selected to be the Jarramplas is a great honour. So much so that many parents sign up their children to the decades-long waiting list of volunteers, so that one day they might have the opportunity to be pelted with root vegetables.

I think we're better off sticking to Morris Dancing here.