Danza de los negritos has a long history in Peru. In colonial times, the bosses gave freedom to slaves from December 24 to January 6. Those days, were used by slaves to celebrate Christmas, visiting the births that wore in the homes of the wealthiest families. From the Decree promulgated by Ramón Castilla on the freedom of blacks on December 13, 1854, the brotherhoods made their appearance in the streets, visiting not only the births but also the churches, where they danced and drank. The owners of the births in reward invited them huarapo, shacta, years later the locro. This was done in the following years and in this way the dance and Dance of the Negritos were institutionalized.
Over the years, men of color became extinct, so they were replaced by mestizos and then by whites. Since the dance was bold, they had to make masks.
The population of the towns and cities form brotherhoods that dance in the streets rivaling each other. In these brotherhoods stand out the bold ones that vary in number, but generally form two parallel rows, each row headed by two blacks called caporales; there are also the characters of the Turk, the lady, the flag bearer who represents a white man who wields a flag of freedom and the old gentleman also called Corochano.
The brotherhoods of blacks are attended by a butler to worship the baby Jesus, these butlers compete with each other in attention to their dancers and party guests. This butler has a historical existence because in the past these butlers hired blacks to worship the baby Jesus in their parties and when missing blacks they made black masks to dance the Indians or even whites.
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