Diriamba Puts on Her Party Dress

The Lives of the Saints was required (and often deliciously lurid) reading for young Catholic girls like me way back in the day, and few stories could match that of St. Sebastian for sheer drama and a grisly martyrdom.

He was a third-century Christian who entered the Roman army in order to protect martyrs. He refused to sacrifice to Roman gods, and was imprisoned, but managed to convert the right people and was released, and he continued to serve in the Praetorian Guards under Diocletian. He kept his faith under wraps, but was eventually outed and tied to a post where "the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin," (Legenda Aurea). He survived, actually, and was nursed back to health, but he publicly denounced Diocletian, who ordered that he be cudgeled to death.

The popular images of St. Sebastian show a young man of (often feminine) physical beauty, eyes heavenward as his arrow-ridden body sags gracefully from the ropes binding him to the post or tree. His feast day is 20 January, which, in Diriamba, is part of a 10-day festival in the saint's name. 

I spent last Tuesday, the 19th, in town to see some of the traditional dances and costumes that date back some 300 years. These traditions are the oldest extant examples of cultural representation of the invading conquistadors and the indigenous people whose lives were ripped forever from their ancient foundations.

This St. Sebastian looks Garbo-esque, as the finishing touches are applied to the festival stage.

In the streets just beyond the Minor Basilica of St. Sebastian, the Güegüense traditional dance is a guiding spirit of Nicaraguan folklore, which celebrates both its indigenous and Spanish pedigrees. The costumes are elaborate, the hats heavy and ungainly, the carved wooden masks seem ghoulish and bizarre. Hot, too—I noticed performers lifting the masks to let in a bit of air from time to time.

The Güegüense (El Macho Raton—Macho Mouse) is a satiric production that lampoons stock characters such as a governor and a military captain, involving theater, dance and music. In 2005 it was declared by UNESCO as Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The original play was written anonymously in the 16th century, and handed down as an oral tradition, finally appearing in book form in 1942. Other traditional dances—The Old Man and the Old, El Gigante, Guacal (calabash gourd)(the Inditas), and El Toro Huaco (The Toothless Bull). 

Small musical ensembles abounded.

Here's a lame web promotion of El Güegüense

And more pix of costumes and dancing!

This little horsy lost his mask, but his mane is magnificent!