The Danzarín Negro (Black Dancer), La Vijanera, Silio, Cantabria, Spain
The role and functions of La Vijanera’s black dancer are quite similar to those of the white dancer. He leads the procession through town, the master of ceremonies.
The Black Dancer’s clothes are totally antagonistic to those of the white dancer. He wears a jacket and pants made of old sacks covered with “garabojos” (shelled corn cobs). He carries two accessories – his large stick along with his horn that he sounds during the procession. The tapping of his stick and blare of his horn wakes the ground from its winter slumber, awakening the land for a bountiful spring harvest.
