La Fiesta De La Luna at Miami Beach

The full moon conjures up headaches and menstrual pains on some women, and gathers the ones that call themselves witches to celebrate the Esbat and chant. Some believe it awakens the werewolves, or at least some howling dogs. The atmosphere is definitely charged with airs of frolic soaked in sexual connotations, dripping suggestive undertones of mystery. In Miami Beach, the full moon brings La Fiesta de la Luna.

The full moon is just an excuse for the gathering, and yet it is also its motivating cause and soul. A couple hundred youth, and many of those forever young at heart, gather up by the ocean to contemplate the reflection of the bright moon on the flickering waves. Although the clouds hover over the celebration, sometimes hiding the intense, captivating moon; not even the occasional bursts of rain stop the fest. Drum circles spot the sand for blocks and blocks. Tonight, women dance in bikini tops and flowing skirts belted with coins. If you are already wearing a swimming suit, what does it matter if you get wet?

Bonfires, candles, and the occasional flash of cameras, illuminate the night, already cleared by the moonlight. People drink and smoke - cigarettes, and marihuana, and god knows what else. Couples lay out mediating in stretched out pareos. The rest of us look for romance in nearby smiles. The passionate, rhythmic drilling of the drums is hypnotizing. We breathe in the mild, harmonious collective hysteria of the moments in which nothing else truly matters but the moment in itself, the beat of the music, the movement of the hips.