This Saturday, February 7th, the Cultural Evenings of Diablos and Congos in the Don Bosco corregimiento will come to a grand close with a colorful and traditional parade that will traverse various sectors of this populous community in the capital city.
The awaited cultural parade will begin at 5:00 p.m. from the Teremari neighborhood and culminate at La Riviera Park, offering residents and visitors a spectacle filled with music, dance, and ancestral expressions. The family event will bring together over 300 members of groups or "palenques" of Diablos and Congos from different parts of the capital, alongside prominent dance troupes, celebrating one of the deepest cultural expressions of Panama.
The representative of the Don Bosco corregimiento, Pier Janson, highlighted the importance of promoting this type of activity that strengthens national identity and promotes community coexistence. During this tradition, the Congo Flag is unfurled—a symbolic banner of black and white colors that represents the resistance, freedom, and pride of Panama's Afro-descendant people. Each performance of Diablos and Congos creates a mystical universe in which the struggle of the enslaved Congo against the colonizing devil is narrated through dance and popular theater, until achieving freedom, reaffirming historical, spiritual, and cultural values passed down from generation to generation.
«We are supporting one of the most representative cultural expressions of the Panamanian and Colonense people in particular, betting on the preservation of the Congo culture, the strengthening of our identity, and the protection of this invaluable cultural heritage,» stated Janson.
The Congo culture and the representations of devils, officially recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO in 2018, constitute a living legacy that manifests itself each year in celebrations such as the Tempe de Soto, held on January 20th as part of the festivities of Saint Sebastian.
