A Pablito Amazed Everyone in Paucartambo
Pablito Performing in a Feast (Walter Coraza Morveli)
The feast of the Virgen of Mount Carmel (the Carmen) in Paucartambo draws one of the largest crowds of any and is one you should not miss if you are near by. Various dance groups participate in the feast and they carry out a very large procession filled with dance and music. The feast just went on.
The Pablitos are figures of Cusco’s feasts and in Paucartambo they carry out a dance among themselves. There was one who dominated in the dance. His steps were fervent and he drew much attention. Everyone was enchanted with him and, as a result, after the choreography he was invited to party and drink chicha. This Pablito never took off his mask and did not speak. He could only be seen at night and in the daytime he disappeared as if by magic.
It was only too late that people realized with surprise that there was one too many Pablitos and that one of the women had disappeared. This Pablito was really a condenado, one of the damned, who had come down from the mountain converted into a Pablito to fool people in order to take them and devour them.
The people of the town found out that all those who had disappeared had been taken by this condenado who had impressed and fooled them. In order to frighten him away they went in a very large group up into the mountains where he lived and stoned him.