Yesterday, the 7th of December, was la quema del diablo, or the burning of the devil. Historically, this originated because the 8th of December, today, is the date of the immaculate conception and the 7th, was naturally the date when the devil was burned. I know what your thinking, “But Jesus was born on the 25th.” He grew fast: he’s Jesus. Today, no one in Nicaragua will be at work in celebration of this holiday. In Guatemala, the origins of the festivities have been lost, and thus I am at work today.
The burning of the devil, downtown Guatemala City
La quema del diablo is celebrated by burning trash on the streets all over the country, symbolizing the death of everything unpure. This happens at 6pm, even though it has been outlawed in Guatemala, they really just can’t enforce this law, and you get pictures like the one to the left. There is a huge rush to get home before 6, so that you don’t have to deal with the smell of burning trash all over the place. But once we were home, we went outside to see the piles that were burning and the fireworks that were going off. Even though many Guatemalans know it’s bad for the environment, they still like the spectacle and the tradition. I don’t see this ending anytime soon.
Fascinating!
While the subject of this post seems on the surface to be different from your earlier post on globalization, this raises the same issues. Who makes the call when it comes to preservation of traditions? For those of us on the outside, it seems clear enough: textiles are good, pollution is bad. I guess we need to hear from the people who own the traditions about how much of a price they’re willing to pay.
On another note… it’s so interesting that different cultures develop different rituals for dealing with impurity. I think of the Jewish pre-Passover ritual of ridding our homes of chametz.
Joan
Environment Schmenvironment. I love this holiday.