RITE AND RITUAL

THE DANCE OF DEATH

Terrified by the death that followed the trail of the Black Plague, an epidemic that devastated the European continent during the 14th Century causing the death of between a quarter and half of its population, the survivors created the Dance of Death, an allegory about the fragility of life and the inevitability of death that comes to all, regardless of age or social position. The fear of losing all earthly pleasures and the possibility of a sudden and painful end sharpened religious feelings of penitence whilst unleashing an irreverent spectacle, where the rich and powerful shared with the poor the terror of their inevitable destiny.

In Spain, the last remaining Dance of Death survives in Verges, a small village in the Catalan Empordà, linked since the 17th Century to the Easter Passion Play and Holy Week procession. With a great part of its little more than a thousand inhabitants participating, the streets of the village set the stage for the re-enactment of Jesus’ last journey to Calvary, escorted by Roman troops, impenitent Jews, Nazarenes and the dancers, mockers and harbingers of death.

FIRE RUNS

Of uncertain origin, the correfocs or fire-runs have been part of Catalan folklore since the Middle Ages and are found in many of the village feasts of the Spanish Mediterranean arc. With considerable popular participation, youths of the village, dressed as devils, run through the streets in an astonishing display of fireworks, whilst from their balconies the neighbours pour water on the revelers, cooling their ardour and putting out any unwanted sparks. The noise and percussive shock from so much gunpowder, ignited with seemingly careless abandon, are matched by the electrified atmosphere of the streets where the celebrants’ excitement is palpable.

THE DANCE OF THE DEVILS

For several years in the 1970s I had the pleasure of living in Peru, in the old mill of Urpihuaylla, near the little village of Taray, on the banks of the Vilcanota River, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Every October villagers from the surrounding mountain hamlets descended upon the village to celebrate the feast of the Virgen del Rosario, participating in the Dance of the Devils, a New World version of the Spanish mediaeval fiesta of Moors and Christians, representing a mock battle in which the indians, togged up in masks and 17th Century costumes, conquer the whites and mestizos, true doppelgängers of their ancient foes.