Traditional Origins

Today, the town of Agono celebrates Higantes festival - where 10-foot giant papermache people (a.k.a. higantes) are paraded in the streets while spectators try to get each other as wet as possible, in the wholesome water-driven way. The festival is a tradition that is hundreds of years old, meaning at least three generations have done the same things over and over again - every year, for the last hundred years or so.

I just got to wondering, how do traditions like this get started anyway? I mean, sure it's easy to convince people to go crazy and splash each other with putrid river water and go build ridiculously big giants by saying "it's tradition" and that "our parents did it too" but what about the first people to actually do it? Did they make those giants thinking of it as a start of tradition or was it out of a need that they did it like so many other starts of traditions?

The mentioned origins of the Higantes festival is said to be the miraculous return of a statue of San Clemente after it was stolen by thieves from the church, chained and hurled into a lake. The statue was said to be recovered after a fisherman caught the statue on its net, without the manacles and chains.

I dont know, but the origin itself sounds like a conspiracy to me. What's more likely:

A statue gets stolen by a bunch of bandidos. They chain it up (using chain they probably bought/made with their own sweat/blood/tears) and just hurl the gold-coated statue into the lake like they dont need the money. Bandidos are like that. They're rich afterall. Why would they be bandidos if they didn't have the money? Anyway, the heavy statue magically floats to the surface using heavenly powers and removes it's chains all incredible hulk and stuff and then attaches itself to the net of an unsuspecting fisherman who is honest enough to return a gold-crusted catch to the church.

OR

A statue gets stolen by a bunch of bandidos because it's crusted with gold. The local priests worry that they may never find the statue and just pretend the nameless bandidos actually threw it in the lake. They make a copy of the statue, hire a fisherman to "pretend" he caught it as though it's the real thing and then go around calling it a miracle while effectively replacing the religious icon and at the same time giving it a miraculous aura.

I think it's the first one. It sounds more plausible. I mean, we all know statues are known to move every now and then. Look at Machete. He not only moves. He moves.

So anyway, what has giants got anything to do with the returning statue? And why do people needlessly get themselves wet for that matter? I imagine the prototraditionists (my new word for people who start traditions) to have conversed something like this:

Pedro: So I've heard the statue's returned to us.
Juan: Praise be! We should celebrate.
Pedro: Okay, I'll go kill a cow or two.
Juan: Wait, that's not enough. I want this celebration to be tit-awesome.
Pedro: Like how? How do we party like it's 1898?
Juan: I'm thinking big.
Pedro: I'm thinking lots of people.
Juan: Wait. Why dont we combine our ideas?
Pedro and Juan: BIG PEOPLE! LOTS OF BIG PEOPLE!

Well, maybe not. Maybe the giants are just there to attract attention, like the way drunk girls like to flash their flaccid boobies at passersby. And what better way to convey penis envy than huge "men"?

As for the splashing part, I think that because men were involved in the planning of the first festival (back then women were treated no better than furniture), the water splashing is just inevitable. I mean you just cant go wrong with parties that have wet t-shirt contests.

I <3 watching Wet T-Shirt Contests.

And I'm sure the giants do too.