El Kookooee

every year on the last sunday of october, El Kookooee goes up in flames in south valley, abq. there's no wikipedia entry for "el kookooee", but i think it comes from "el cucuí", a bogeyman character who comes for kids who don't behave (the terror method of parenting). south valley's el kookooee is 30 feet tall, designed by a local elementary school student, and eats your fears. hundreds of ppl gather to write their troubles on slips of paper that are then stuffed into el kookooee and torched as everyone cheers wildly. i watched my fears vanish into ash in a matter of minutes.