Meeting the Devil At A Dance

This is a very old Latin folklore/legend that has been passed from generation to generation.  This story begins with a handsome man coming into a dance hall to seduce a woman into dancing with him; then turns out to be the devil.  This story has been told from  South Texas to New Mexico, Bolivia and Columbia.  It has a lot to do with old folklore and culture.


Most of the stories were meant to keep young people away from bars and late night dancing.  This story was meant to keep the young men and women, safe and out of harms way.  Away from anyone that may seduce them and take away their virtue.


It reminds me of the old Hispanic story about the "Yorona" (Llorona) (the wailing lady), who drowned her children in a river because her husband was cheating on her.  It is said that she roamed the rivers at night wailing and crying for her children.  This story was told to keep children from going near the rivers alone.  Parents were afraid that their children would attempt to swim unsupervised and drown. 

I remember this story frightened me as a child.  My grandmother would stay up late at night and tell me that the wailing noises outside my window and down the street were from La Llorona.  She said this so that I would go to sleep quickly.  And I did.


In the story "The Devil Dances", written by Jose Limone; the devil is described as a handsome Anglo man with blond hair.  He represents the desires of Hispanic woman in those days.  They wanted wealth and status.  They even wanted light-skinned, blond haired, and blue -eyed children.  Therefore a blond Anglo man that seduces a Hispanic woman was a great threat to the the Hispanic men of the community.  


In those days it was not common for a woman to marry an Anglo man.    As a matter of fact it was considered wrong to marry outside of your race.  And the elders viewed the devil as a form of punishment for the sins of the youth.  The elders would often say that anyone who was out in bars late at night drinking and dancing was out of gods protection.  They were vulnerable enough for the devil to appear and take their soul.  The late night drinking, dancing, and smoking, was considered to be a great sin.


Especially as in the case of New Mexico.  If a young person were out dancing on Easter Sunday; which as of today is a tradition that some people still follow out of fear.  In fact, one young woman told me her sister went out on to a dance on Easter Sunday.  She did in fact meet a very handsome man.  He was wearing a long trench coat.  She danced with him all night.  At the end of the dance, she noticed that he had a long tail behind his coat.  At which time she ran away quickly.  Never to repeat this action again.


When I was a child my parents used to tell us to go to bed early, because if we didn't the devil would appear at our window to snatch us away in the middle of the night for being disobedient.  As children, when we didn't listen.   My siblings  of would swear we had seen the shadow of him in the window.  And the hoof prints outside in the mud.


To conclude, the devil seems to represent something that is not readily accepted by society or culture.  He represents sins, evil, communism in some countries and perhaps a threat to the current generation.  Just as the writer Jose Limon wrote, "In this respect he is less a fold figure then in South American and more, yet again, Like the dancing, modernist figure indebted to the past but open and available as a flexible and critical tool for reading and critically evaluating a threatening present"


Written by Donna C. Ledesma
Copyright © 2010
All rights reserved


Reference from
Jose Limones , "The Devil Dances"
Interview with a local New Mexican who shall remain nameless for privacy sake.

Chaps New Zealand Lamb Leathert Car Coat - Men (Google Affiliate Ad)