Dance of the Devils (Son de los Diablos) part 1 of 2

As with most things in life, the more you dig down into the Son de los Diablos, the more complex you find it to be.  The more complex and also, the more interesting.

First, let's start by explaining that the Son de los Diablos is a dance and a procession or parade in which the diablos--the devils--dance down the streets (or these days, dance across the stage), accompanied by drum beats from the cajón and/or a cajita, a quijada de burro and a conga drum.  In addition, in the old days, there was also a form of harp but now a guitar is usually used instead.

The devils wear masks and also wear very colorful costumes, usually with a lot of frills and a lot of red.  There is a head devil, who is larger than the others, and then there are the littler diabolitos (little devils).

19th century watercolor by Pancho Fierro

In the watercolor, we see two devils, one with his mask lifted up.  We also see someone playing a harp and another person playing the cajita.  And one of the devils has a long whip.

You see it now as a stage production, or in festivals in certain regions of Latin America.  Traditionally, it was something that you only saw during processions down the streets in honor of a Catholic festival, the Corpus Cristi festival, which takes place in the spring (40 days after the Thursday of Semana Santa/Holy Week, which comes right before Easter).

Traditionally as well, the head devil carried a whip, and a huge book in which, it was said, he wrote down the names of all the people he was going to drag down to hell.

Most sources refer to it as something exclusively Afro-Peruvian but I have found in my investigations that it is also performed, and has been performed for generations, in certain African descendant communities in Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia and Mexico.

Here's one version of the dance, by a group called Yuyachkani.

But it does seem to have been particularly important in Peru, and so its association with Afro-Peruvians is logical.

And its origins?  Well, it developed out of the Corpus Cristi celebrations in southern Spain, mixed with the African traditions (especially Congolese traditions) of the people kidnapped and brought over to Latin America as slaves.

It began in the New World about 200 years ago.  As time passed, and particularly after the abolition of slavery in the mid-1900s, in most areas it was all but abandoned but in recent decades, relying on the memories of community elders, it is once again a living celebration.

The group Baila América performs the son de los diablos.

In the photo above, the head devil has a quijada de burro, while the two smaller devils are playing the cajita.

 Now, however, it is not confined to the Catholic celebration of Corpus Cristi.  As suggested above, you also see it in other celebrations including ones that have nothing to do with religion.  And today it is also performed as a stage show by many cultural organizations.

OUR NEXT POST will give more details about the Son de los Diablos.