As the sun sets on November 2nd in the quiet borough of San Andrés Mixquic, the local cemetery begins to glow. Hundreds of candles flicker to life. Marigold petals form glowing pathways. The air is thick with the scent of copal incense and tamales. But this is no ordinary cemetery visit — this is a sleepover with the dead.

Every year on December 23rd, while the rest of the world is busy wrapping presents and scrambling for last-minute shopping, something wonderfully weird takes over the central square of Oaxaca City. It's called La Noche de los Rábanos — the Night of the Radishes — and it’s exactly what it sounds like… only way stranger.