Carnaval de Oruro

[thatguy]

This looks interesting:

https://www.neatorama.com/2022/03/01/The...-de-Oruro/

The Dance of the Devils at Carnaval de Oruro
Miss Cellania

The Carnival season ends at midnight tonight, with the start of Lent. In the days leading up to the Christian tradition of fasting, celebrations of excess take place all over the world. In Oruro, Bolivia, it's the Carnaval de Oruro. The festival itself pre-dates the arrival of Europeans, but took on Christian traditions over time. The festival features a parade of more than 28,000 dancers and over 10,000 musicians, which takes about 20 hours to complete. Since the city of Oruro is set 12,000 feet high in the Andes, performing in the parade is quite a physical challenge!


Carnaval de Oruro also involves an elaborate dance called the Diablada, or Dance of the Devils. It illustrates a battle between good and evil, or more specifically, a battle between Satan and his minions and the archangel Michael. You can guess who wins in the end. Read more about Carnaval de Oruro and see gorgeous pictures at Atlas Obscura.

Bolivia’s Dance of the Devils Is a Party and a Battle Between Good and Evil

Heaven and hell, music and dance at the Carnaval de Oruro.
Matthew Taub
February 28, 2022

More than 12,000 feet above sea level in western Bolivia, in the small city of Oruro, every year for centuries has seen a battle between good and evil. Dancers wearing elaborate, horned, technicolor masks perform the Diablada, or “Dance of the Devils,” trying and ultimately failing to defeat the Archangel Michael. Though it might be the festival’s most visually striking and thematically poignant set piece, the Diablada is but one feature of the annual Carnaval de Oruro.

The Indigenous Uru people have observed this festival since pre-Columbian times, before the Spanish Empire outlawed the local customs of the “Upper Peru” area in the 17th century. Rather than disappear, however, the festival adapted, incorporating Christian iconography and religious dimensions, and becoming a model of “syncretism” between cultures. Due to Bolivia’s long history as an important mining region, the Carnaval de Oruro evolved into a tribute to the Virgen del Socavón, the patron saint who watches over and protects miners. According to UNESCO, which recognized the Carnaval as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2001, the region’s declining mining activity is one of several factors threatening its Indigenous communities.

The Carnaval itself betrays no indication of being under threat. More than 28,000 dancers and 10,000 musicians take part in the entrada, or main procession, repeatedly traversing a 2.5-mile route over the course of 20 hours. It’s a display of endurance befitting a festival that has survived for centuries, through imperial oppression and cultural transformation. To put it more accurately, it has thrived: bursting anew each year in song, dance, and a rainbow’s worth of masks, traditional clothing, and artwork.

Atlas Obscura offers a look into the traditions of Carnaval de Oruro.

The Banda Super Central de Oruro, founded in 1992, accompanies dancers during the entrada that opens the Oruro Carnaval.The festival honors the patron saint of local miners. Decorations that include silverware symbolize the strength and mineral wealth of Oruro.The female devils of the Diablada dance are called the China Supay. At one time they represented the cardinal sin of lust, but now just accompany Lucifer.Women of the Yampara culture, in distinctive pacha hats, white scarves, ajsus (woven wool cloth), and aymillas (nightgowns), conduct a complex dance with mystical, ritual, and religious elements.The songs of the Carnaval are generally composed by the bands themselves, in addition to some choreography.The dance of the Tobas represents the ethnic groups of southeast Bolivia, portraying them as indomitable warriors.The spectacled bear, or Andean bear or jukumari, is emblematic of Bolivian wildlife. In the Diablada, they represent fertility, pull pranks, and mediate the battle between the angels and the devils.At the end of the entrada, dancers kneel to implore the Virgen del Socavón for her blessing. Milkmaids and a bullfighter are among the characters in the dance.

--tg