The Pase Del Nino Viajero parade takes place on Christmas Eve morning, it runs along one of Cuenca’s main streets and is a celebration of the baby Jesus.

It’s an occasion where groups from numerous local villages come together to create a colourful procession that lasts for hours. It’s a wonderfully unorthodox occasion with costumes of all sorts, from angels to captain America, cowboys to Joseph and Mary taking part in the celebrations.

At the heart of the Pase del Niño Viajero procession is a statue of the infant Jesus, with many in the parade bringing their own statues.

Men, women and children in a wide variety of costumes, themed bands and dance troupes, horses, trucks etc provide for a fantastic and joyous Christmas celebration…

There are literally tens of thousands of spectators lining the streets and hundreds of participants in the procession.

Once the procession is over, the town is filled with stray characters from the parade, in the bars or walking along the streets, making the town quite surreal…a fantastic event and a great day.