A DEVIL LEAPS OVER THE BABIES: WELCOME TO EL COLACHO, SPAIN'S MOST ASTONISHING RITUAL!
He has horns, a red-and-yellow costume, a whip in his hand — and he is about to jump over your baby. Don't panic: in Castrillo de Murcia, a small village in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, it counts as a blessing. Since the early 1620s, during the Corpus Christi festivities, the village has celebrated El Salto del Colacho — the Leap of the Colacho — quite possibly the most startling ritual in Europe.
The scene takes just a few images. Mattresses are laid out in rows in the village streets, and on those mattresses lie the babies born that year. The Colacho — the village "devil", wearing a horned mask — first runs through the streets symbolically whipping passers-by, as if driving out evil. Then he takes his run-up… and leaps clean over the newborns. Local belief holds that the jump purifies the children of original sin and protects them from misfortune and evil spirits. The babies are then blessed and showered with flower petals.
Dizzying? The village has owned it for four centuries — and, according to specialist accounts, no baby has ever been hurt. El Colacho is no carnival prank: it is a parish and village feast, traditionally carried by the local Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, blending faith, street theatre and the pride of an entire village.
The next edition will be held, as always, on the Sunday following the Feast of God: it is expected on Sunday, May 30, 2027 — a date deduced from the liturgical calendar, which the official calendars have not yet confirmed (we will re-check it in the spring). No official site, no ticket office, no crowd counters: just a village, a devil, and babies who see only fire. It is exactly for parties like this that Festival TV exists: small village, huge vertigo — Colacho is the number 2 of our Top 10 of the most unusual festivals in the world.
Practical information
El Salto del Colacho (Corpus Christi festivities)
Where: Castrillo de Murcia (province of Burgos, Castile and León), Spain
Next edition: the Sunday after Corpus Christi — expected on 30 May 2027, date to be confirmed (2026 edition: 7 June)
Organiser: parish and village feast (local Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament) — no dedicated official website
Access: village festival, free access; no published prices
— Moïse 1er, the Festival Explorer