The Little Devil ….
---- the interior of a room in which the "souls" have to pay a small donation in money, to be released .... ----
---- l'interno di un locale nel quale le " anime " devono pagare una piccola offerta in denaro, per poter essere liberate .... ----
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This is at the same time a long and short report , about the traditional sacred and profane feast with pagan roots, called "u Ballu di Diavuli" (The Dance of the Devils) that I made this year on the afternoon of Easter in the Sicilian village of Prizzi (in the province of Palermo); this feast, which has medieval origins, is the representation of the eternal struggle of Evil (two Devils and Death) against the Good (Christ and the Virgin Mary). Devils wears a wool suit in red (the color of the fire of hell ...), also wearing a flashy iron mask with a big mouth adorned with big teeth and a lolling tongue, the mask is surmounted by two horns while the back is covered with a fleece of a goat that covers shoulders and back (a Devil has a black fleece, the other Devil a white fleece), and Devils shake pieces of iron chains which are agitated bumping against the masks; the Death wears a wool suit of yellow ocher, wearing a leather mask always yellow, which looks like a skull, from his mouth come out long teeth, it holds in its hands an "instrument of death" very similar to a medieval crossbow. The feast begins on Easter morning, Death along with the two devils (which have become even four, to involve as many passers-by) roam the streets of the town of Prizzi, engaging with the passers jokes and cajoling, passers are invited to dance with them at the sound of the well-paced band music. Often the two devils "capture the spirit" of a passer, which to be able to see his liberated soul .... must issue a small donation symbolic .... Nevertheless, the name of the Sicilian feast "the Dance of the Devils" originates from a very special time of the event, when the two statues of the Risen Christ and the Virgin Mary are in front each other of them to meet (U 'Ncontru): it is here, between the two statues, the two Devils and the Death staged a bustle of dancing, jumping, coaxing ... with the aim of preventing this meeting, but they will be slain by the swords of the Angels (Angels to guard the Risen Christ), so the Mother and her Son can meet, in a blaze of joy of the devotees, with the Good that has defeated the well forces of Evil ...
The Little Devil ….
---- the interior of a room in which the "souls" have to pay a small donation in money, to be released .... ----
---- l'interno di un locale nel quale le " anime " devono pagare una piccola offerta in denaro, per poter essere liberate .... ----
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This is at the same time a long and short report , about the traditional sacred and profane feast with pagan roots, called "u Ballu di Diavuli" (The Dance of the Devils) that I made this year on the afternoon of Easter in the Sicilian village of Prizzi (in the province of Palermo); this feast, which has medieval origins, is the representation of the eternal struggle of Evil (two Devils and Death) against the Good (Christ and the Virgin Mary). Devils wears a wool suit in red (the color of the fire of hell ...), also wearing a flashy iron mask with a big mouth adorned with big teeth and a lolling tongue, the mask is surmounted by two horns while the back is covered with a fleece of a goat that covers shoulders and back (a Devil has a black fleece, the other Devil a white fleece), and Devils shake pieces of iron chains which are agitated bumping against the masks; the Death wears a wool suit of yellow ocher, wearing a leather mask always yellow, which looks like a skull, from his mouth come out long teeth, it holds in its hands an "instrument of death" very similar to a medieval crossbow. The feast begins on Easter morning, Death along with the two devils (which have become even four, to involve as many passers-by) roam the streets of the town of Prizzi, engaging with the passers jokes and cajoling, passers are invited to dance with them at the sound of the well-paced band music. Often the two devils "capture the spirit" of a passer, which to be able to see his liberated soul .... must issue a small donation symbolic .... Nevertheless, the name of the Sicilian feast "the Dance of the Devils" originates from a very special time of the event, when the two statues of the Risen Christ and the Virgin Mary are in front each other of them to meet (U 'Ncontru): it is here, between the two statues, the two Devils and the Death staged a bustle of dancing, jumping, coaxing ... with the aim of preventing this meeting, but they will be slain by the swords of the Angels (Angels to guard the Risen Christ), so the Mother and her Son can meet, in a blaze of joy of the devotees, with the Good that has defeated the well forces of Evil ...