one unusual festival in Mexico has a long history.Radishes were brought to the country by the Spanish in the 1500s,and people began to grow them.Som of these vegetables grew very big,and people began to make sculptures from the radishes to make them more interesting.It became the custom to bring radishes made into sculptures to the Oaxaca market on December 23,right before Christmas.Orignally the sculptures usually showed scenes of the birth of jesus,with figures carved from the radishes.Nowadays there are many kinds of subjects that are carved from radishes.They include local buildings and figures doing local dances.The event has been turnad into a contest, and a prize is now given for the best sculpture.Tourists com from many places to see these strange-looking sculptures.But because the sculptures are made of vegetables,they start to rot after a few days and they have to be thrown away.