culture

The Festival de Corpus Christi begins

The Festival de Corpus Christi is rooted in the Catholic celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

Its dances and music have become symbols of Panama’s cultural history and folklore.

LA PRENSA

National Symbols: The Diablos Sucios dance represents the eternal struggle between good and evil.1029202

Yesterday was the first day of the Festival de Corpus Christi in La Villa de Los Santos in the province of Los Santos, one of the most celebrated festivals in Panama and a symbol of the country's folkloric traditions.

The Festival has roots in the Catholic celebration of the Holy Eucharist, or Communion, which commemorates the words of Jesus Christ during the Last Supper with his disciples when he gave them bread, saying "This is my body," and wine, saying "This is my blood."

The festival takes place on the Thursday following the eighth Sunday after Palm Sunday, which is also the ninth Sunday after the first full moon of spring in the northern hemisphere.

One of the highlights of the festival is the procession that starts at midday at the colonial Iglesia San Atanasio, in which a float decorated with flowers and the symbolic bleeding heart of Jesus Christ is carried down the street over a carpet of multicolored flowers. Students from the Escuela nacional de Folclor, based in Los Santos, are responsible for adorning the streets.

For all its religious underpinnings, however, there is something decidedly unholy in a Christian sense and slightly bacchanalian in a Greek sense about the drinking, dancing, theater, and carousing that give the Festival its attractive character.

One of the most famous dances, whose precise origin is unknown, is called Las Enanas, or The Dwarves. Las Enanas is danced by children wearing costumes made of huge conical hats that cover their heads and upper bodies, with two holes cut in it for their eyes. They wear a mask of the head of a woman around their waists and a loose-fitting garment over their legs, giving them the appearance of capering dwarves in enormous hats.

Another favorite children's dance is called El Torito Guapo, and tells the story of a farmer and his cattle.

Another popular dance is called Los Diablos Sucios, or The Dirty Devils, and represents the battle between the devils and the angels for the human soul.

La Montezuma española is a dance with roots in the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés. No one knows why it was adopted for the Festival of Corpus Christi, but there is no doubt that all the Corpus Christi dances echo the history and traditions of Africa, Spain and other parts of the world as well.

The other well-known dances are the Montezuma Cabezona, the Gallotes, the Mojigangas, the Zaracundé and the Diablicos Limpios.

The Festival begins on the same day in the towns of Guzmán, Parita and San Juan Bautista, while the rest of Panaman's parishes begin their celebrations on the following Sunday.