Diabletes de Teguise (or hitting children for fun!)

Saturday 1078,  8th February 2020

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The title may have alarmed you a little so let me explain.

I was on holiday in Lanzarote and was on my way back from the late, great, artist, sculpture and architect Cesar Manrique’s house museum in Haria.  It was about 5.30pm and I had stopped in a small lay-by for a drink when I saw a man walk past the car… but not just any man!  This man was wearing a white outfit painted with black and red diamonds and spots wearing, on his head, what looked like a mask with massive horns, tongue, eyes and teeth.

So despite being rather tired I jumped out of my car with my camera and followed him to find out what on earth was going on. I could hear a lot of shouting and excited shrieking .

At this point I had no idea where I was but it turns out I was in the rather beautiful La Villa de Teguise and what I was about to witness was an ancient part of Carnival called Diabletes de Teguise or little devils of Teguise.

“Los Diabletes are the product of a mixture of aboriginal beliefs with Castilian elements and pagan influences, which dates back to the end of the 16th century.”

Some say it  “originated from the Americas, most likely brought by a Lanzarote emigrant upon their return, their origin is as closely tied to the funerary rites of the Mahos—the indigenous people of Lanzarote—as the rites of passage to adulthood”

“The typical clothing worn by Los Diabletes is a white trouser and a shirt painted with red and black rhombus. Also, they wear a big mask similar to a bull face in which emphasises the enormous horns of a billy-goat and the red tongue”

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“Their mission? To chase children that they encountered in the street, shouting at them and scaring them while they performed macabre dances around them” 

They carry sticks on which are suspended little goats skin bags of sand used to beat the ground, and hit the children with if they get a chance; hence the title of this post.

From what I saw of it the children, of all ages including teenagers, absolutely loved it;  baiting the Diablete and then running away;  they shrieked with laughter when they were caught and hit.   Some adults joined in too and even I got a gentle whack as I was taking photos 🙂

 

What I haven’t mentioned so far , but what you can see from the photos, is that the Diabletes are covered in bells, which sound every time they move so there is no chance of them creeping up on anyone, but boy do they have to be fit because they were running round the streets for a couple of hours, until it was almost dark. Most of the action I photographed took place around the beautiful Plaza la Constitucion and Parque La Mareta.

They even have apprentice Diabletes and what a cutey he was.

But don’t worry I discovered the Diabletes were really very friendly

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It was huge fun and I’m so glad I stopped for a drink and that my natural curiosity got the better of me!

Your comments are welcome as ever.

Saturday Girl signing off.

 

You can find my photography blog Photomania here 

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Not in My Name : The Sadness at Leaving.

 

Saturday 1079,  1st February 2020

If you are new to my blog take a look at my About page here

I don’t write on the blog much these days – too busy doing things – but I couldn’t let the momentous event of the UK leaving the EU without making some comment.

I wrote about Brexit, and some of the people behind it, back in October 2018, when I attended a People’s Vote march in London.

It’s still worth a read. Try it? Here 

It’s no secret that I voted to remain in the European Union, though I think it’s far from perfect, but the majority of people who voted, not the majority of people eligible to vote,  chose to leave so leave we did; yesterday 31st January 2020 at 11 p.m UK Greenwich Mean Time – Midnight in Brussels.

Many will be celebrating but I won’t be one of them

Actually we have only gone into a transition period so now we are half out and half in. The difference is that we cannot influence any law/rule changes the EU might make over the next 11 months but we will have to abide by them.

11 months to make free trade deals with the EU and not just free trade deals but new treaties on everything from security to travel to research will have to be done.

At present, the EU has in place the largest trade network in the world, with 41 trade agreements covering 72 countries.

The UK currently benefits from all of these trading relationships and unless  Boris Johnson and the Conservative Government can secure deals before the end of 2020 we will lose all the benefits of these trade agreements. I hope they can but I am not holding my breath!

I could write a lot about trade but what really worries me is the effect the whole Brexit debacle has had on the fabric of our society.

The divisions are deep – families divided, friends no longer friendly, young resenting and blaming the old.

Healing the rifts will not be easy or quick.

Because of the nature of some of the Leave campaigning and the blatantly xenophobic front pages of the tabloid press, racists and xenophobes have been emboldened and I fear this will get worse- here’s an example from Brexit day.

This truly abhorrent poster was placed on a fire door inside Norwich City Council’s Winchester Tower, a block of 95 council flats, under the heading ‘Happy Brexit Day’.

It made me feel sick to my stomach when I read it.

It has been reported to the police and I hope the perpetrator is found and prosecuted, because this is clearly a hate crime.

There are many stories of people from Europe and other continents being made to feel unwelcome. I have a friend who has lived here for over 40 years but because she has a bit of an accent she has been told, more that once, to go back to where she comes from. Appalling.

Another friend, an Italian who has lived and worked here for 20 years, said she feels her position is now precarious , down to having the right paperwork, a concession rather than a right.  She and many other Europeans feel rejected and not equal.

Can you imagine how horrible that would feel?

It is beholden on all of us to treat everyone we meet with love and kindness and especially to support the most vulnerable in society because we now have a Conservative government for the next 4 years and the vulnerable are likely to suffer as they have for the past 10 years.

Having a Tory government also makes me fear for our environment because apart from paying lip-service to the need to act they have been doing very little and the evidence for dangerous man-accelerated climate change is overwhelming.

I have little faith in Boris Johnson as he is a proven Liar and a Narcissist.

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook .. it’s about right !

ODE TO BORIS JOHNSON

I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?

– Rudyard Kipling, ‘A Dead Statesman’

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Remainers have battled hard to try to stop Brexit, or at least stop the UK leavibng without a deal, because many of us felt as though we were being dragged into the fire and having our rights removed. We were told time and time again that we disrespected democracy, but now, as a friend of mine wrote

“This is freedom day for remainers when we can legitimately campaign to return without being undemocratic.”

 

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Before you leave please take some time to read this article by the Writer Ian McEwan  HERE 

“A triumph of dogged negotiation by May then, briefly, Johnson, has fulfilled the most pointless, masochistic ambition ever dreamed of in the history of these islands.”

Your comments are welcome as ever.

Saturday Girl signing off.

 

You can find my photography blog Photomania here 

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