Easter is celebrated with giant caterpillar-like hats and flames in this Mexican town

TETELA DEL VOLCAN, Mexico (AP) — Every year, the winding mountain streets of Tetela del Volcán are filled with a crush of vivid yellows, purples, greens, oranges and blues.

Hundreds of what appear to be human-sized caterpillars with elaborate stripes bob along the road.

Shaggy tissue paper hats resembling caterpillars sit atop the heads of men and women wearing bearded and mustached leather masks, and colored capes adorned with images of Jesus and Virgin Mary. The characters they portray are known as “sayones”.

These elaborate costumes, imitations of Roman soldiers, are part of a cherished Easter celebration dating back 350 years in the central Mexican town. Residents of town, which sits pressed up next to Mexico’s active Popocatépetl volcano, prepare for months for the three-day celebration every Easter weekend.

“The tradition, it’s part of our essence,” said José Alfredo Jimenez, the town’s director of tourism and culture. “It’s something that gives us our originality as Tetelans. No one else in Mexico does anything like this, it’s unique.”

Jimenez said the celebration came to be when European colonizers arrived to Latin America and attempted to evangelize local Indigenous communities to Catholicism, often spreading their religion through theatrical performances portraying figured from the crucifixion of Jesus, including Roman soldiers.

Throughout the years, the tradition grew to take on its own identity, mixing with local Mexican customs like many Easter and Holy Week celebrations across Latin America.

The hats of the sayones, meant to imitate the helmets worn by Roman soldiers, are the dominant part of the celebration, and have gradually grown more elaborate over the past 25 years as residents have sought to out-do each other.

The hats were little more than vertical arm-length tufts when Jimenez began to participate as a teenager, but have slowly turned into two-meter-long, multi-colored puffs teetering on people’s heads as they march through the streets. Every year, residents pick new colors for their costume, from deep yellows and reds, to brilliant pinks and blues.

This year, 20-year-old Eduardo Canizal chose a three-pronged pink and black tissue paper structure, fastened to a black cowboy hat and with a cushion on the back of his neck to support the hat’s weight. Others fasten them onto construction hats or metal wire.

“Every year, you want to do something bigger, better and you keep going,” he said.

He said the hat is made up of around 900 sheets of tissue paper, which he began to cut into thin threads by hand over a month before.

Shortly before the procession, Canizal pulled on delicate pink cloaks, leather boots and a mask before heading out to the march.

“This weighs like 15-20 kilos (35-40 pounds), If I had to guess,” he said, leaning over and using his body’s momentum to swing the hat over his head.

They march through the streets, clanging machetes, meant to imitate Roman swords, on the rocky earth. Others dress up as key figures in the Catholic story of the Jesus’ crucifixion like Pontius Pilate and Judas, who is chased through the streets of Tetela del Volcán.

Jimenez, the town’s cultural director, said it’s a celebration the town has clung to as other Easter marches and traditions like Mexico’s Day of the Dead have been flooded by tourists, often watering down longtime traditions.

In Tetela, more than a thousand people participated this year, he said, yet the celebration still remains local at its heart.

“You put on your mask, and everything changes, you transform,” Jimenez said. “We still try to keep alive this mystical side, Tetela’s signature, especially as we’ve seen other cultural activities suffer a change, a transformation for better or for worse.”

Cloaks portraying religious figures are delicately embroidered and some like Emilio Aguilar, 20, begin creating intricate designs with sequins and beads as early as July.

“You do this little by little, on your free time,” he said, waving his and over a two-food long embroidery of the Virgin Mary emblazoned on his back.

Aguilar, and a group of 12 friends and relatives, each dress identically in white and pastel colored hats.

But all of those efforts quite literally go up in smoke at the end of the Easter celebration.

On Sunday afternoon, the costumed marchers solemnly lay a bouquet of flowers at the base of a stone church, then trek up a winding mountain slope trailed by paramedics.

As they run, neighbors, police officers and screaming little boys sling matches at the men until their paper hats burst into flames, often to the roar of the crowd. While authorities try to keep the flames confined to a stadium, celebrations quickly spill onto the streets.

Aguilar said it’s their way of paying penance on the Catholic holiday.

“After all these months of work, it’s a sacrifice of all the work that went into these,” he said.

Children pose for a photo with a reveler, known as a sayon, in a tissue paper hat during Easter Day celebrations in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A reveler, known as a sayon, tries to put out a fire he started on his tissue paper hat as part of Easter celebrations in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A reveler, known as a sayon, runs with a tissue paper hat as onlookers throw lit matches at him during Easter celebrations in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Revelers, known as a sayones, try to put out fires they started on tissue paper hats as part of Easter celebrations in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A reveler, known as a sayon, wears a tissue paper hat during an Easter celebration, in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Children pose for a photo with a reveler, known as a sayon, in a tissue paper hat during Easter Day celebrations in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Onlookers throw lit matches at a reveler, known as a sayon, wielding a tissue paper hat during Easter celebrations in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Revelers, known as sayones, prepare to take part in an Easter celebration, in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A reveler, known as a sayon, tries to put out a fire he started on a tissue paper hat as part of Easter celebrations in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A reveler, known as a sayon, tries to put out a fire he started on his tissue paper hat as part of Easter celebrations in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Revelers, known as sayones, wear tissue paper hats during an Easter celebration, in Tetela del Volcan, Mexico, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

LONDON (AP) — Actor-comedian Russell Brand was granted conditional bail by a London court on Friday after appearing to face charges of rape and sexual assault involving four women.

Brand, 49, did not enter a plea. He was swarmed by photographers as he arrived at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for his first hearing since being charged last month.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring told Brand to present himself at the Central Criminal Court in central London on May 30 and granted him bail on condition he keeps the court informed of where he is staying, either in the U.K. or in the U.S. He currently lives in Florida but is obliged to attend all future court appearances. If he doesn't, he will face prison.

Brand, who was wearing an open shirt and jeans, listened intently to the details of the charges as he sat in the dock. He spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth, address and that he understood his bail conditions.

On his arrival at court as police tried to control the scrum, a man shouted, “No one is above the law, Russell Brand!”

The comedian, author and “Get Him To The Greek” actor faces one count of rape, one of indecent assault, one of oral rape and two of sexual assault. The alleged offenses took place between 1999 and 2005 — one in the English seaside town of Bournemouth and the other three in the Westminster area of central London.

In September 2023, British media outlets Channel 4 and the Sunday Times published claims by four women of being sexually assaulted or raped by Brand. The accusers have not been identified.

Brand has been interviewed by police about the allegations, which he denies.

Brand has denied engaging in “non-consensual activity.” In a video posted on X after he was charged, Brand said he welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence.

Known for his unbridled and risqué standup routines, Brand hosted shows on radio and television and wrote memoirs charting his battles with drugs and alcohol. He has appeared in several Hollywood movies and was briefly married to pop star Katy Perry between 2010 and 2012.

In recent years, Brand has largely disappeared from mainstream media but has built up a large following online with videos mixing wellness and conspiracy theories. He recently said he had moved to the United States.

Russell Brand arrives at Westminster Magistrates' court in London, Friday, May 2, 2025, where he faces, rape and sexual assault charges involving four women. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Russell Brand arrives at Westminster Magistrates' court in London, Friday, May 2, 2025, where he faces, rape and sexual assault charges involving four women. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

A person takes a smart phone picture as Russell Brand arrives at Westminster Magistrates' court in London, Friday, May 2, 2025, where he faces, rape and sexual assault charges involving four women. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Russell Brand arrives at Westminster Magistrates' court in London, Friday, May 2, 2025, where he faces, rape and sexual assault charges involving four women. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Russell Brand surrounded by media as he arrives at Westminster Magistrates' court in London, Friday, May 2, 2025, where he faces, rape and sexual assault charges involving four women. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Russell Brand escorted by police and surrounded by the media arrives at Westminster Magistrates' court in London, Friday, May 2, 2025, where he faces, rape and sexual assault charges involving four women. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Russell Brand arrives at Westminster Magistrates' court in London, Friday, May 2, 2025, where he faces, rape and sexual assault charges involving four women. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Actor--comedian Russell Brand arrives at Westminster Magistrates' court in London, Friday, May 2, 2025, to face charges of rape and sexual assault involving four women. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)