{"id":324126,"date":"2026-06-05T13:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/324126\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T13:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:59:09","slug":"venezuelas-dancing-devils-revive-centuries-old-corpus-christi-rite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/324126\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela&#8217;s Dancing Devils revive centuries-old Corpus Christi rite"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dressed in colourful costumes and handmade masks, parishioners danced through the streets as children received their First Communion after a year of religious preparation. The event combines Catholic devotion with local customs and forms part of a ritual in which masked devils ultimately submit to the Blessed Sacrament, symbolising the victory of good over evil. The tradition was recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2012.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The celebration in Tarmas is distinguished by its small masks made from dried gourds and a rhythmic dance that traces the sign of the cross on the ground. Participants said that while costumes and rituals vary between communities, the central purpose remains the same: honouring the Eucharist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The practice dates back to the arrival of Franciscan missionaries in the late eighteenth century and reflects a blend of Catholic, Indigenous and African influences. Today, it remains one of Venezuela&#8217;s most distinctive religious and cultural events, bringing together families, worshippers and local brotherhoods each year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dressed in colourful costumes and handmade masks, parishioners danced through the streets as children received their First Communion&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[115905,115903,155,157,156,115902,115904],"class_list":["post-324126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-blessed-sacrament","tag-colourful-costumes","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-handmade-masks","tag-local-customs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}