Yare's Danzant Diablos
Traditions · San Francisco de Yare, Venezuela
The festival
Every Thursday in Corpus Christi, the devils dance in San Francisco de Yare, in the state of Miranda — and end on their knees. The Danzantes Diablos, promeseros who fulfill promises to the Blessed Sacrament, pour into the streets all dressed in red, masks with impressive horns: four horns for the Primer Capataz, the oldest, three for the second, two for the devils "sazos".
At the sound of the drum and the maracas, framed by the arredor and his whip, they dance in symbolic struggle until the final fall in front of the church: prostrated before the Santísimo, they recognize the victory of good over evil. The founding legend speaks of a drought, in the middle of the eighteenth century, and of a promise fulfilled by the rain. The Diablos Danzantes de Corpus Christi — eleven Venezuelan confraternities — are inscribed in the intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO since 2012.
Good to know
The day before evening, the brotherhood watches (velación); the hierarchy of the devils reads as the number of horns of the masks.