The story
Fiestas Patronales de La Conquista in La Conquista
La Conquista, in Carazo department, celebrates its patron, the Senor de Esquipulas, known locally as the Cristo Negro or Black Christ, from January 13 to 15. On January 15 the image travels house to house through the municipality's 18 rural communities, each hosting a dawn alborada, before the festival closes with a horse parade, or desfile hipico, that draws mounted riders from across Nicaragua.
In La Conquista, a rural municipality in Nicaragua's Carazo department, the patronal festival centers not on a single grand procession but on a black-colored image of Christ known locally as the Cristo Negro, formally the Senor de Esquipulas, housed in the town's church and highly venerated across the surrounding countryside.