P. 16 - LA PLAYA
JUNE / JUNIO 2014
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Corpus Christi Festival: An Oral History told by Devil Dancers
share the traditional dances, music
and stories, Panama’s Tourism
agency also took an interest in
promoting the festival nationally.
“We are going promote Corpus
Christi in Panama’s hotels so that
more tourists can enjoy the show
and learn more about our
traditions,” said Perez Balladares,
assistant director of the Panamanian Institute of Tourism (IPAT).
(dirty and clean devils). Nobody
gets paid for their performance.
Despite this, the citizens of the town
continue to work together to put on
the annual show.
Together Burgos and Panama’s
Tourism Agency have designated
the main Corpus Christi procession,
a ‘Tourist Day.’
I
f you are interested in immersing
yourself in some of Panama’s
best folklore, Los Santos on the
Azuero Peninsula is a great place to
start. Each year in June, masked
devils draped in elaborate colorful
costumes parade through the
streets. The town is celebrating the
Corpus Christi festival. Traditional
stories and dances, each with their
own legacy are performed in the
streets and parks. This year on
June 19 the Los Santos community
will once again come together to
observe this Corpus Christi and
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Corpus Christi is the celebration of
the Holy Communion in the Roman
Catholic Faith.
The tradition
brought to Panama in the Spanish
Colonial era, has since been
transformed from a customary
procession into an elaborate performance.
Today the celebrations
blend both religious ritual with
traditional mythology in a festival
loved by both locals and tourists.
of the Miguel Leguizamo Association for Dance Revival, expressed
his association’s desire to recover
national patrimony in the area of
Los Santos. Burgos spoke to a need
to reinvigorate Panamanian folklore
to attract youth to continue the
tradition. In an effort to do so,
Burgos sought to bring the Corpus
Christi dances to the schools where
the dances and stories behind them
could be shared with the next
generation.
In 1998 Artistdes Burgos, president
With determination to preserve and
keep their folklore alive.
The first dance, the dance of the
dirty devils, has no dialogue. It is a
series of leaps and hops and the
occasional chasing of a spectator.
The dance represents the Roman
Catholic
Church
scaring
non-Catholics into conformity. While
no words are spoken, it is part of an
oral history that has been passed
down through generations.
Although, Corpus Christi is a
two-week long celebration, the main
procession always takes place sixty
days after Palm Sunday, this year
that is June 19. The largest festivals
will take place in Los Santos and
Chitre, but each year devil dancers
also take to the streets of La
Chorrera.
In each town the procession will be
similar. The day begins early, as the
crowd searches the town for El
Torito (little bull) a scary little figure
that hides among the town’s streets
and houses. Drummers and pipers
lead the procession to the town
center where the show begins. It is
here townspeople come together to
play the diablicos limpios y sucios
After several other traditional
dances take place, the clean devils
confront the dirty devils. In Los
Santos, this final dance takes place
in the park outside the eighteenth
century San Atanasio Church. It is
here the clean devils defeat the
Grand Diabolico (the great devil),
leader of the dirty devils, in a
choreographed dance accompanied by dialogue. A party through
the streets follows