Diablada

The Diablada, also known as the Danza de los Diablos (English: Dance of the Devils) is a Bolivian folk dance, characterized by performers wearing masks and costumes representing the devil, and characters from post-colonial theology and mythology combined with Spanish and Christian elements added during the colonial era. Some scholars have concluded that the dance is descended from the Llama llama dance in honor of the Uru god Tiw, the Aymaran ritual to the demon Anchanchu and El Tío. It originated in 1789 in the Oruro’s Socavón mines, where performers dressed like the devil in parades (led by San Miguel Archangel) called Diabladas. The first organized Diablada group with defined music and choreography appeared in Bolivia in 1904. There is also some evidence of the dance originating among miners in Potosí. Regional dances have been influenced in Peru and Chile’s modern versions.