A childhood belief about monsters

I live in Costa Rica. Every December they used to throw a celebration for Virgin Mary with all kinds of religious activities, but there were also carnivals, attractions, cotton candy, the like.

They made "mascadaras" (people dressed like ugly people or monsters like the Devil or Death - I don't really get why there were monsters in a celebration for the Virgin, I think I was about not letting the Devil to capture you and make you sin?). The whole street would be filled with masked people running around with a pig's bladder, hitting everyone in the ass and you have to avoid them (little children were not included in the game, of course - being hit with a pig's bladder hurts like hell). By the way, they only hit people willing to play (in the middle of the street, saying "try to catch me"); if you were on the sidewalk doing noting, they wouldn't do anything to you.

But parents would take their little kids, to the sidewalk, or to their yards, to just watch the game. Kids who WEREN'T told it was a game. It was like a ritual of passage of 2-4 year olds in my town.
A bunch of little kids crying their eyes out because they believed the street was filed with ugly giant people and monsters spanking everyone.

I would locked myself up on my room and cry and shriek when someone tried to take me to see the masked people. I only realized it was fake when I was taken by force and a "Devil" got too near me and I saw a guy inside of the costume.