Lucero Will Be ‘Burned’ In Mazatlán Carnival Following Her Hunting Photo Scandal

Every year, in the city of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México, the people celebrate an international renown carnival. It’s one of Mexico’s biggest and best parties, where thousands of costumed revelers throng the streets and beaches. Every year the carnival takes place five days before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Symbolically, the carnival is the feast of the flesh, where everybody lets their inhibitions go and indulge in earthly pleasures. However, it doesn’t mean the streets turn into Sodom and Gomorrah, but instead enjoy the celebrations by dancing, dressing up and joining cultural activities as well as attending concerts and other events.

As soon as the “carnaval” is over, the people, who are mostly catholic, begin a time of meditation and religious ceremonies, culminating with the celebration of “Holy Week,” that remembers the passion of Jesus Christ before he was crucified. One of the main activities of the carnival is the “Sabado del Mal Humor” or “Bad Mood Saturday,” when people burn a big doll representing someone who is supposed to be a shame to the population, or has been the responsible for the town’s bad luck throughout the year. This burning represents an exorcism of all the bad, and it’s done so the celebrations continue happily.

Some victims throughout the year have been politicians, entrepreneurs, celebrities, and even the local baseball team when they don’t do as good during their season. The doll representing the person chosen to be burned, is filled with gunpowder. The people parade it through the important streets of the city and then take it to the stake and carry on with the plan. This year, a celebrity was chosen to be the one burned in the stake. Lucero. Once Mexico’s sweetheart, this singer and actress faced major backlash when some personal photos of a hunting trip with her boyfriend were revealed.

The pictures showed the singer and actress holding a rifle and showing off a dead alpine ibex she had just hunted with her boyfriend. Lucero never really apologized and instead took a defensive attitude claiming the things she does in her private life are no one’s business and those pictures were private. She has been in the down-low lately, after many of her commitments she had previously scheduled were canceled, and now she’s trying to finally clear her image agreeing to appear on “El Gordo y la Flaca.”

However, that doesn’t change the fact that she’s going to get symbolically burned on Saturday. Raúl Rico González, the director of the Mazatlán Institute of Culture, Tourism and Art, who’s in charge of organizing the carnival, said that with Lucero’s burning, they’re sending a message to those who have double standards pretending to be someone they’re not, amongst them mayors, politicians and even society, referencing the capture of “El Chapo” Guzmán and how people have reacted.