Eloise HorsfieldIT sounds like every mother’s nightmare.
But a Spanish devil has been jumping over newborn babies in a bid to cleanse them of original sin.
Over 200 people took part in this year’s annual El Colacho festival, in Castrill de Murcia, near Burgos, which symbolises the eternal fight between good and evil.
As part of one of the country’s more unusual festivals a Spaniard dressed in yellow and red – representing the devil – takes a running leap over babies born during the previous year.
The brave babies are placed in rows on mattresses in the street.
It is believed the bizarre ritual – which dates back to 1621 – will put the infants on a path to a good life, opening their entrance to heaven.
There have never been reports of injuries to the babies.
“Brave babies” What choice do they have?
CastrillO de Murcia is in the province of Burgos, 198 km from Bilbao…….
It might be worth looking at a catechism as well as a map…
the sacrament of baptism cleanses us from original sin,not El Colacho. These babies will all have been baptised.
Your use of the word “superstition” in your index today is very unfortunate…
El Colacho is no more superstitious than the Derbyshire tradition of well-dressing or the Abbots Bromley(Staffordshire) dance with antlers’ horns,when the dancers stop only outside the houses with unmarried women……
The English must try harder to avoid getting on to their moral pedestal when trying to understand Spain and her ancient traditions.
Anthony: Moral pedestal? Ancient traditions? These goons are putting helpless babies at risk. Of course it’s cool, they’ve “all been baptised”. So when one of these clowns drops his fifteen stone on them and kills some, don’t worry, they’ll go straight to heaven. Catechism makes it clear.
Dear “Stefanjo”….
No point in foisting your Anglo-centric secularised view of the world on me…….
If you feel so very strongly about it, why not visit Castrillo de Murcia and try to convince them ????????
That would need more cojones than you might be able to muster……
The “goons ” would be more than capable to putting you in your place………
Un abrazote,
Anthony
Thank you Anthony. You make my point for me. These folk are bullies.
Don’t judge from a distance……go and find out for yourself !
Post your findings, rather than your prejudices.
“bullies”, “goons” etc……..
all examples of verbal bullying used to cover up a lack of ideas…………
Apparently, the naive residents of the village readily and irresponsibly offer their newborn babies to the pranks of insane miscreants. Wise up! There is no original sin. This wholly debased desert religion from the Middle East has got nothing at all to do with the original beliefs of the European peoples,- they did not know any devils.
stefanjo is a troll
Dave: Only me? Is that the best you can do? That silly word is used by people with little imagination. What’s your argument?
lol. Ignore Dave, he’s a noob.
no it’s not Stefanjo, at least you’re not as confrontational as Fred who IS a Troll on here!! and if you don’t think so you need to think again & read his posts again – you might realise something! Baby jumping, crazy custom, Viva España!
Anthony Weaver,
this is not a Spanish tradition – it’s one of those weird Catholic traditions – original sin – only if you believe in invented sky fairies and let’s face it, not a very nice sky fairy. At least when Catholics and some Moslems engage in the sexual perversion of self flagellation they don’t include babies.
This is not an ancient tradition – it only came about when the Inquisition got seriously psychotic in it’s killing campaign – ancient as in the totally wrongly named Stonehenge, built by the Euskadi over 5000 years ago – that’s ancient.
Mr.Crawford,
Was your degree in archaeology and anthropology awarded by the University of Skyfairyland ?
If the name Stonhenge is wrong, why do you hold back in giving your eager readers the correct name, presumably a Basque name if the Euskadi made their way to the West of England, presumably travelling in sleighs drawn by sky fairies? Someone as versed in ancient history as yourself must surely know the real name for that tedious collection of old rocks ….???
You really MUST remember to take your medication at the regular intervals indicated by your consultant…
Dr.Weaver
That first post by Anthony Weaver is quite bizarre!
“the sacrament of baptism cleanses us from original sin”
Really? Who says??
“Your use of the word “superstition” in your index today is very unfortunate…”
Why is it unfortunate? You go on to say how it is similar to some equally “superstitious” UK practices. So? What’s your point?