Dancing Devils Of Corpus Christi
The Corpus Christi Dancing Devils are a group of popular Venezuelan Catholic celebrations celebrated on Corpus Christi to commemorate Christ's presence in the Eucharist. It refers to the rituals of 11 brotherhoods in various places, each with over 5,000 members, the most well-known of which is the Dancing Devils of Yare. In 2012, UNESCO designated these expressions as Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The brotherhood groups began in the mid-seventeenth century on the state farms of Aragua and Vargas. Corpus Christi was celebrated as early as 1749, with men, women, and children dressed as devils to honor commitments made to the Blessed Sacrament.
The origins of the Corpus Christi Dancing Devils have been variously attributed. A priest without the resources to hold the Corpus Christi procession 400 years ago exclaimed, "If there is no money or believers to bring the Blessed Sacrament in procession, then the devils come!" according to a narrative concerning the San Francisco de Yare fraternity. Following a storm, three devils appeared in front of the church.
Other legends about the Yare brotherhoods may be found in the novel Peona by Manuel Vicente Romero Garcia, which describes how the dancers were Ca demons in the 1870s in a clear and graphic manner.
