Las Burras de Güímar – a Witches’ Sabbath in Güímar

[Janet]

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One particularly evocative event in the whole Carnaval season takes place in Güímar, where a modern twist on the old local legend of Las Burras de Güímar is enacted, the witches who disguised themselves as donkey mares (burras) to infiltrate the public to carry out acts of black magic in honour of their Lord, the Devil himself. Last year there was a great controversy over their poster of a woman on all fours before her master, the Devil (see below). This year (above) it's slightly less provocative, but perhaps more horrific!

This year's performance is a fortnight today, Friday 16 February. The whole thing begins around 9pm with a typical religious motif but soon becomes something far more pagan, bestial, and mystical, as the parade leaves the plaza de San Pedro Arriba and gradually turns into a Witches' Sabbath! If you want to see something really quite different, this is the place to be!

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[Matt]

I'm absolutely gutted that we are working that Friday and can't go!