A nice surprise over the weekend was to watch a wonderful piece of local folklore: the dance of the Aricuchicos and the Huma Devil, performed by a group of young dancers the we host every afternoon as they attend to a folkloric dance club. The aricuchicos are local villangers dressed in their most beautiful outfits, that gather to invoke a good harvest, crying out the mantra "ah...rih.... cu.....tchee... co" while dancing vigorously. Huma, in quechua language, means head. Thus, Diablo Huma means the head of the devil.
The Diablo Huma is dressed with a mask that has two identical faces, one looking to the front and one to the back, with twelve horns on top of the head. In hand, he holds a long whip made of a goat leg as the holder and goat skin for the tail, that he cracks against the floor as he dances. It is considered to be Satan.
Aricuchicos represent the natural order of things, while the Diablo Huma represents the supernatural happenings.
Aricuchicos and Diablo Humas dance in a fight-like dance with continuous short, half steps imitating a confrontation. Eventually, shouts of victory and euphoria overcome the Aricuchicos, and the dance is over.
~ December 18, 2006 ~
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