Being pursued by a mob of multi-colored monsters may not sound like a lot of fun - unless you've been to carnival in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In February each year revelers put on colorful horned masks and become vejigantes, mischievous evil spirits who roam the streets scaring passers-by. It's all in fun, of course, and the vejigantes are eventually confronted by good spirits and routed for yet another year. It's a kind of medieval Batman thing but with infinitely more charm.

While the vejigantes disappear, their papier machi masks don't. In fact, they've become collectors' items. The artisans who make the masks were once no more than folk hobbyists, but today are regarded as fine artists. In addition to their symbolic role in keeping the lid on bad karma, people also find the masks help them maintain that carnival feeling all year long.

You can get your own pound of party spirit easily enough when you visit Puerto Rico. Serious shoppers and those who have a lot of demons that need chasing may want to find a well-known mask maker in Ponce for a full-sized face. The less karmically challenged can pick up a miniature mask in any one of a number of handicraft shops in Old San Juan.

Posted online 07/01/97.