Los diablos Danzantes

What: The Los dia­b­los Dan­zantes or ‘Danc­ing Dev­ils of Cor­pus Christ’ is a Venezue­lan UNESCO recog­nised reli­gious fes­ti­val, in which rit­u­al dances are per­formed by the Yare danc­ing dev­ils – a group of reli­gious wor­ship­pers kit­ted out in dev­il cos­tumes — recog­nis­ing their sub­mis­sion to reli­gion and cel­e­brat­ing the tri­umph of good over evil.

Dat­ing back to the 18^th cen­tu­ry, the fes­tiv­i­ties on the day of cor­pus Christi begin as the Church bells toll for mid­day – when the sound of drums car­ried by the 11 reli­gious organ­i­sa­tions ‚slow­ly increas­es before the dev­il dancers, dressed head to toe in red and wear­ing masks sym­bol­is­ing and rep­re­sent­ing their cho­sen Gods flood into the city square and parade through the streets, con­fronting oth­er dancers, per­form­ing chaot­ic whirl­ish danc­ing move­ments, danc­ing for per­son­al rea­sons and stomp­ing their feet in uni­son – cre­at­ing not just a car­ni­val atmos­phere in the square but a sea of colour – as the dancers hav­ing tried and failed to attack the church per­form the sacred right of bow­ing their head in front of the church and offer­ing prayers to sym­bol­ise their sub­mis­sion to reli­gion – with the cel­e­bra­tions cul­mi­nat­ing in an evening mass where the dev­il dancers rep­re­sent­ing the force of evil offi­cial­ly sur­ren­der to the forces of good.                     

When:  The dance with the dev­ils take place on the day of cor­pus Christi, which is usu­al­ly in ear­ly June.

Where: While events take place all over Venezuela, the best place to wit­ness the fes­ti­val is in the town of San Fran­cis­co de Yare, in the state of Miran­da, in Venezuela, with the fes­ti­val and per­for­mances start­ing in the city cen­tre and lead­ing to the main city church where mass is held and the dev­ils offi­cial­ly sur­ren­der to the forces of good.

Dura­tion: Los dia­b­los Dan­zantes lasts for the whole of the day of Cor­pus Christi with the main part of the fes­ti­val begin­ning at mid­day, when the dev­il dancers backed by the sound of their own drums will flood into the city square of San Fran­cis­co de Yare and over the course of the rest of the day per­form dances, whirl­ish­es and rit­u­als as they wait for their turn to bow their head and offer penance to the church.

The fes­ti­val offi­cial­ly fin­ish­es with an evening mass that marks the tri­umph of good over evil – how­ev­er expect par­ties, fes­tiv­i­ties and even fire­works to go on into the ear­ly hours.

Tick­ets: No tick­ets are required for attend­ing or watch­ing Los dia­b­los Dan­zantes, just turn up and enjoy the show.

Need to Know: It’s rec­om­mend­ed to be care­ful when vis­it­ing Venezuela and make sure you secure your valu­ables – with their also being a need to book accom­mo­da­tion in advance and be pre­pared for the shops and restau­rants of Venezuela to be closed ear­li­er than nor­mal as folk cel­e­brate cor­pus Christi.