They perform ‘La Danza de los Diablos’. See how these Mixtecos celebrate their culture

To be a diablito (little devil) you don’t have to have a specific age.

You can be as young as 5, like Aiden Montes Leon, or even over 60, to perform La Danza de los Diablos.

“I have children from 3 years old up to the oldest person is about 60 years old. I have all ages and I have women, ladies, girls, everything,” sam Samuel Dolores, director of the group Mixtecos Unidos La Danza de los Diablos

Dolores said Mixtecos Unidos has been performing the Danza de los Diablos for about eight years.

Mixtecos Unidos recently performed at the ninth Día de los Muertos celebration organized by Kings Cultural Center on Oct. 23 in Armona of Kings County.

It is not the first time they have performed in Armona, Dolores said, adding that they have been coming to the Armona event for about three years even since before the pandemic.

Dolores said they currently have 42 members in the group, of which about 15 traveled from Madera for the Armona presentation.

But how easy or difficult is it to train the little dancers?

“You’ll see that the chiquitines can see us dancing once and they can already know how to dance. Because it doesn’t stop so much curiosity or so much desire to dance, they can dance the next day,” Dolores said of her youngest students.

“We have some steps that go with the dance, which are not usually difficult, they are two different steps,” Dolores said. “And then everyone picks up a style, but it’s almost always going to be the same step.”

Dolores said that sometimes the big ones “struggle a little bit because the flexibility and the children are very light with a lot of energy and it’s easier for them.”

An example is Aiden Montes Leon, who has been with the Mixtecos Unidos group for about a month, said Aiden’s father, Claudio Montes Gonzalez.

“He likes this tradition a lot, he watches TV based on YouTube, he learned a little bit more there,” Montes González said of his son.

Montes González said he spoke with the director of Mixtecos Unidos to see if they could accept him into the group at his young age.

When we asked Aiden how he liked performing in Armona and how much he likes to dance, he told us “a lot”.

Although Montes Gonzalez does not dance in the group, he said that since his “child likes it, we are supporting him.”

Dolores said that all the members of the group are from the Mixteca region of Oaxaca.

“But we are from different towns in the Mixteca region, that’s why the name of the group Mixtecos Unidos, because we are from different towns making one group,” Dolores said, adding that most speak Mixtec, Zapotec, and different languages.

For Dolores and his group showing Oaxacan traditions and culture is a privilege.

“We feel proud because of how people receive us, how people treat us. Here there are people of all nationalities,” said Dolores, adding that one of the attendees of the event in Armona who approached to greet him was from Guatemala and was delighted. “And it makes us proud because we make known what there is in Oaxaca, that not many people know about it or that not everywhere in the United States there is.

“And that’s why every time someone comes they greet us, like the one who came, he is a fellow Aztec dancer, who was excited to see the dance and danced with us,” said Dolores.

Distinctive costumes

If you have had the opportunity to see the Danza de los Diablos, you have noticed that their costumes are very distinctive.

The devil’s costume includes a hand-carved wooden mask. Some include real goat horns.

Dancers must have boots, a jacket and formal shirt and a tie or silk scarves.

The scarves are wrapped around the face and are used to adjust the mask so that it does not move and does not hurt.

And of course, the chicote, which symbolizes that the devils are coming.

“When the chicote cracks it is because, the band sounds, the devil brings his chicote because he comes to the dance floor to dance,” Dolores said, adding that, in her region of Oaxaca, the devils dance different pieces of chilenas, which are originally from Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Puebla.

Dolores said the masks are carved from a sabino wood that grows in the Mixteca region.

“Everything is completely artisanal and handmade,” Dolores said, adding that everything comes from Oaxaca.

“Everyone can put their design, their design that they want,” Dolores said of the chivarras.

“Each one is a different design. Some have glass eyes, others don’t. They are different designs,” Dolores said of the colorful masks.

Intricate masks

Depending on the design, Dolores said the masks can take a month to three months to make and start from $400 to $700 depending on the horn.

Dolores said that the chivarras, from one that is simpler, that has shorter hair, to one with too long hair, cost $800 to $1,700.

To take care of the chivarras, Dolores said that after each dance “you have to dust it off, you have to comb it and hang it up to remove the sweat because you sweat a lot inside the costume and this way it can last. This one is about 30 years old.”

Dolores said that the chivarras cannot be washed, since only the hair can be washed, but it is something very difficult that would have to be done very calmly, but not the deerskin leather that is behind it because it spoils.

If you are one of those devils with chicote, Dolores said they are always very attentive to their surroundings to make sure they don’t have people in front or behind them when they use the chicote.

“And every danzante that comes in learns along the way. And with time, because this is not something you learn overnight,” Dolores said of mashing the chicote during the performings.

Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 31 de octubre de 2022, 3:32 p. m. with the headline "They perform ‘La Danza de los Diablos’. See how these Mixtecos celebrate their culture."