June 23, 2014 El Colacho (baby jumping)

In my last blog I mentioned that we were going road tripping to see some priest jump over babies.  Well i was mistaken. No priest jumped babies.  The devils did all the jumping.
We traveled north west from barcelona to the very small town of Castrillo de Minerva, population 500.  This town hosts a festival once a year called "El Colacho" (baby jumping) on the first Sunday after Corpus Christi.  The mysterious black clad Brotherhood of Santisimo de Minerva has put on the event every year since 1620.  The "brotherhood" parade thru town to the beat of a big drum, led by a member dressed as the devil.  The devil chases townsfolk  and whips them with his whip. It does not hurt much.  The devil spends most of his time chasing children who tease and  taunt him then run screaming  for the hills when they get his attention.  They all have a great time and  a lot of local wine is involved.  They do this parade around town once an hour, with a two hour siesta break at 2 pm.   At 6 pm the whole town meets in the church at the top of the town, much beating of loud drums and genuflecting followed by a procession down to the town square.  Meanwhile, mattresses have been layed out in the town square and all babies born in the last year are put on the mattresses.  When the procession reaches the square the devils proceed to jump over the babies.  The belief is that the devil, while passing over the baby, draws "original sin" from the babies, because all sin would, of course, follow the devil. After the devil does his leaping, the priest follows with the eucurist and blessing.  Its all very festive and fun, however, it must be pointed out that this type of baptism is not sanctioned by the Catholic church.  Church officials, including  Francis,  do not approve of the ritual, insisting that baptism with holy water is the is the only way to achieve purification in the eyes of God.  Regardless, these babies and their families felt purified. And everyone continues the festivities to the wee hours.

represents all babies of the world

Brotherhood of Santisimo de Minerva

el diablo

here come the devils

the babies are ready

and the jumping begins, some babies fight the purification

We returned to our peaceful Camino Pension in the middle of some wheat fields.  CB had a glass of wine and I asked for a gin tonic. The young lady proceeded to pour me a very full glass of gin and said they were out of tonic. I never want to offend the locals, so i drank it. Whats a fellow to do. I
I'm pretty sure we had us a lovely evening.