Diablada
Dance characterized by the mask and devil suit worn by the performers
The Diablada, also known as the Danza de los Diablos (English: Dance of the Devils) is a Bolivian folk dance, characterized by performers wearing masks and costumes representing the devil, and characters from post-colonial theology and mythology combined with Spanish and Christian elements added during the colonial era. Some scholars have concluded that the dance is descended from the Llama llama dance in honor of the Uru god Tiw, the Aymaran ritual to the demon Anchanchu and El Tío.
It originated in 1789 in the Oruro’s Socavón mines, where performers dressed like the devil in parades (led by San Miguel Archangel) called Diabladas. The first organized Diablada group with defined music and choreography appeared in Bolivia in 1904. There is also some evidence of the dance originating among miners in Potosí. Regional dances have been influenced in Peru and Chile’s modern versions.
History
Pre-Columbian origins
Historians claim that the Diablada originated in Bolivia, and that should be named as its place of origin under the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity policy promoted by UNESCO; has also claimed that performances of the dance in other countries are cultural appropriation. Bolivian historians currently maintain that the Diablada dates back 2000 years to the rituals of the Uru civilization dedicated to the mythological figure Tiw, who protected caves, lakes, and rivers as places of shelter. The dance is believed to have originated as the Llama llama in the ancient settlement of Oruro, which was one of the major centers of the Uru civilization. The dance includes references to animals that appear in Uru mythology such as ants, lizards, toads, and snakes.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Diablada” as dance characterized by the mask and devil suit worn by the performers. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17080921. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1789, 1904 and 2000.
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This entry incorporates text from “Diablada” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.