Venezuela’s demonic dervishes

The only thing Venezuela has been in the international news for recently has been president Hugo Chavez’s slanderous remarks about US president George W. Bush. Chavez, last year, referred to Bush as a demon from the pulpit at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Now Venezuela is using its own demons to draw more tourists to the country, and to educate its own people about its African roots. The festival of ‘Dancing Devils’ is an Afro-Venezuelan tradition that has been performed on the Caribbean coast since as far back as the 18th century.

“There are many stories of how this originated, but we know it was above all a way for our ancestors to take part in the life of the church,” commented Pablo Azuaje, who is the “capataz,” or overseer, of the ritual.

There are many variations on this theme, but here in Venezuela, the devils dance around the a town’s central square before stopping in front of the church to take the Eucharist.

This is another fascinating example of how African traditions have been morphed into the iconography of Catholicism in South America.