The story
El Colacho in Castrillo de Murcia
El Colacho, the Baby Jumping Festival, has run without interruption in Castrillo de Murcia, in Spain's Burgos province, since 1621. Held the Sunday after the Feast of Corpus Christi, costumed men representing El Colacho, the devil, in red and yellow masks, leap over babies born the previous year, laid on mattresses in the street, believed to absorb the babies' sins and protect them from illness and misfortune, while running through the streets whipping villagers with a horsetail switch.
On the Sunday after Corpus Christi each year, the small village of Castrillo de Murcia, in Spain's Burgos province, stages a ritual that has continued without interruption since 1621.