Quema del Diablo
Saturday,
December 13
By: Stacy Davies
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While Christians love to get all huffy every December and try
to claim full ownership of the month—crying bloody murder
whenever someone else’s special celebration is mentioned
(Christmas just doesn’t get enough exposure with all these
Kwanzaa people running around—and what about those millions
of Stars of David on all those houses in your neighborhood?
Oh, there aren’t any? Hmm)—I’ve decided the
best thing to do is stoke their fire. In fact, I have the perfect
thing for that fire—the devil!
No, this is not an ad for Satanism—too obvious—but
instead an introduction to a positively fascinating holiday
tradition from Guatemala. Apparently, some of the folks down
south believe that all year long the devil sneaks into your
home and embeds himself into your piles of stuff: lurking inside
old shoeboxes, slinking along underneath your bed, flitting
through that old bin of newspapers in the corner—kinda
like a dust bunny, but lots less lovable. And because you’re
now swimming in an invisible Satan soup, Guatemalan lore states
that December is spring-cleaning day for the dirt devil (hey
. . . dirt devil . . . ), which means that you have to pull
all that junk out of your firetrap without the help of two disgusted
British ladies in yellow rubber gloves and toss it out the front
door. And then you torch it. Devil begone!
Referred to as Quema del Diablo, or “burning of the devil,”
this Catholic cleaning celebration is coming to the dA in Pomona
this weekend thanks to Rolo Castillo, who apparently felt the
holly jollies needed a counterpunch. Not that he’s going
to set off a bonfire in the dA or anything—just show some
tortured, comedic and demon-laden artwork, play some music,
and imbibe a bit. I think. But I’ll keep my eyes peeled
over there for massive smoke—and those two sorry-looking
fundamentalist protestors who need to learn that other people’s
holidays are just as important as their holidays. Didn’t
they teach us that in kindergarten?
(Stacy Davies)
Quema del Diablo, Music, & Procession at the dA Center for
the Arts, 252 S. Main St., Pomona Arts Colony, Pomona, (909)
397-9716; www.dacenter.org. Procession begins at 8PM in front
of the gallery. Show runs through Sat., Dec. 20