The ritual of purification of the spirit and the home through fire seeks to remove the evil represented by the character with a tail and a trident as a prelude to the Christmas festivities.
For this great day, the piñateras sell a variety of “diablitos”, whose confection integrates black and red china paper together with the number 7 on the chest.
However, tonight beyond seeing the typical figures succumb to the flames, several public officials were also “burned” in family gatherings in the neighborhoods at the foot of the bonfires.
Social discontent again passed the head of State Alejandro Giammattei, several deputies with Allan Rodríguez, president of the Congress at the head; in addition to the Attorney General Consuelo Porras and the Minister of the Interior Henry Reyes.
For example, the typical ecological devil from the colonial city of Antigua Guatemala, almost five meters high and 400 pounds in weight, today was cremated in a coffin with the phrase: «For so much corruption of our rulers, even the devil died ».
Other piñatas showed the Chapin ingenuity by rejecting the current judicial impunity, the rise in the prices of the basic basket, fuel and the mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A two-headed dragon devil, those of Giammattei and Porras, drew attention in the capital’s zone 1, where neighborhoods “exploded” in fireworks.
With the passage of time, the celebration of this day was stripped of its purely religious meaning and today responds more to purify and remove evil spirits from homes or get rid of the old and give way to the new, a perfect metaphor to synthesize the desire of the various social organizations that ask for profound changes.
But the controversy also surrounds the «Burning of the Devil», because sometimes instead of piñatas, bonfires are made with everything useless such as old books and papers, mattresses, nylon and plastics that pollute the air, without forgetting the great waste of games Pyrotechnics announcing the celebration at 06:00 local time.
Even so, with great monitoring by municipal authorities, firefighters, Red Cross and police, Guatemalans do not overlook every December 7; more this 2021 that the Covid-19 gave a break and will allow families to get together again -with distance-, and enjoy the ceremony.
msm / mmc
