The traditional Feast of Corpus Christi is celebrated every June in La Villa de Los Santos, Panama. The religious festival celebrates the body and blood of Christ and is a combination of Catholic tradition with popular practices in the area, like theater and burlesque dancers.
The practice was introduced by the Catholic Church during the early Spanish colonial era. According to the legend, the first inhabitants of La Villa reached the banks of the river of the same name in 1569, but the Spanish Crown did not recognize the settlement until 1573.
Many villages colonized by the Spanish had a church, known as San Atanasio de La Villa de Los Santos, and the main administrative buildings rose around it. A reason for the Conquest, however, was to convert the native inhabitants.
With the Spaniards in contact with many people whose beliefs were different from their own, including Africans transported to the continent to serve as slave labor, the feast of Corpus Christi was born. Now it is one of the most popular festivals in La Villa, combining both ecclesiastical and popular expressions.
In a theatrical and musical performance held the day before the festival, a battle is depicted between good or "clean" (Saint Michael the Archangel) and evil (the great devil with his legion) in the quest for the soul of man.
The evil gangs, made up of about 15 men with red and black striped suits and hideous brightly painted masks and horns, are crowned with about 40 macaw tail feathers. There are several “dirty” and “clean” groups of demons and angels in Chitre and Los Santos during the two weeks of the Corpus Christi celebration.
On the night of the feast, thousands of people dressed up in bull masks follow a priest carrying the monstrance, a metal container that contains the consecrated bread of the Eucharist. The sacrifice of the body of Christ is represented by the host. Dancing is performed on carpets made of flowers. After the procession is completed, the community members dance and gather in the streets or at home, where they share food and drinks.
As a result of the huge local popularity of the feast of Corpus Christi, the Panamanian Institute of Tourism (IPAT) has decided to feature the festival as one of its tourist attractions. By participating in the festival, youth are able to acquire knowledge and skills related to the festival.
They are also involved in dance groups, mask-making teams, and sawdust carpet teams. The government also emphasized the need for re-sowing Panamanian folklore through the teaching of the clean and dirty devil dance secrets in order to attract children and youth to the celebration.