La quema del diablo, the burning of the devil, is a tradition that people throughout Latin America participate in. Every year on December 7th at 6pm a devil, along with a mountain of trash, is burned in the city/town center or if you are at NPH in front of the comedor. Why are they burning devils you ask??
The tradition started many years ago on the eve of the Immaculate Conception. Families wanted to make room for Mary in their hearts and in their homes so they started cleaning their homes and throwing out any old belongings and trash and burning them. It was believed that the devil manifested in the items so over time the burning of the trash piles turned into a burning of the devil. Getting rid of the devil and clearing the path for Mary. The main idea is to burn all the bad from the previous year and start anew. The burning of the devil kicks off the Christmas season here in Guatemala.
At NPH we had our very own quema del diablo. The children built devils with old clothes and trash and at 6pm sharp we lit the devil on fire along with the rest of the country.
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