I have no idea what's going on here

Last night I came home from work and found some odd characters erected outside my apartment building entrance.  Since I'm now a seasoned traveler and expat, I followed standard procedure for stumbling upon an unusual site of unknown or under- understood significance.

I posed for a photo in front of it.

Me and...  a character that just happened
to appear one day in front of  my apartment

By the next morning, the characters had accumulated many, many friends.  Some of whom were (pretend) fighting with real knives and swords.

Needless to say, I was a little late to work.
Sometimes you just have to pause and try to take it all in.

This never happens outside my house in the States.