La Danza de los Zancos

La Danza de los Zancos
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By m.p. - Jul 20, 2009 - 12:34 PM
A dancing fiesta on July 22

A Zancos dancer on the hill in Anguiano - Photo Wikipedia

Every July, the village of Anguiano, La Rioja, celebrates the feast of Mary Magdalene with La Danza de los Zancos, a whirling exhibition of enormous skill which accompanies the image of their patron saint in procession from the village church. The dance takes place on 22nd July, and is performed by eight young men dressed in voluminous yellow skirts, who whirl around to the sound of the dulzaina and the beat of the tamboril drum.

The skill which is needed to perform this dance comes in that it takes place half a metre above ground, on 45 cm wooden stilts fastened on at the knees. It’s a tradition, passed on from generation to generation, which is known to date back to at least the early 17th century but is believed to have existed as long ago as pre-Christian times. Some say it owes its origins to the stilts which were once used to cross the area’s flooded and snowy terrain.

Now classed as a fiesta of International Tourist Interest, the procession begins outside the church after a mass in honour of the Magdalena, where the dancers must first negotiate the seven steps which give access to the church square. The most difficult part of the route is a steep cobbled street which takes its name from the skilled stilt dancers - the Cuesta de los Danzadores – a tricky path to negotiate even in normal footwear. Here, one by one, the eight young men twirl down 40 metres of the cobbled 20 percent gradient, falling into the ‘cushion’ of the crowd waiting in the square below once they reach the bottom.
They then each return up the steps again to repeat the journey – again and again - as the Saint slowly makes her way down into the main square.

The stilt dance is held each morning and evening over three days, with other traditional dances taking place without the stilts as part of the festivities. The ‘zancos’ come out again in September, when the image of the Saint is brought back down from the church to the chapel where she will spend the winter.

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