La Judea is a ritual that recreates the order that existed before humanity, a chaotic and unstable realm governed by primordial forces, ancestors, and “others” who are not Christianized or who perpetrate violence against the Naayeri (Cora), such as mestizos, wild animals, demons, and diseases, all organized into armies that seek to annihilate the saints. Yet their self-destruction occurs through infighting, and on Holy Saturday these beings are defeated by Christ and the saints, who have been reborn through the sacrifices of the community.
The Jews, or xumuabikari, are recognized by their bodies painted black with ash made from burned corncobs, as well as by masks fashioned from papier-mâché. In the past, the masks were said to have been made from wood and adorned with deer antlers, horsehair, and inset fangs. Natural dyes and corncob ash were also used to obtain two colors, red and black. Today, these techniques have been replaced by industrial paints.
Because the intention is to embody alterity and the forces that threaten the world, in 2020 the artist Sandino Bucio Dovalí wore the face of the coronavirus, an evil little understood at the time but already claiming lives at an accelerating pace. During the Judea, this mask gave rise to various performative acts that imitated, and parodied, the preventive measures used to avoid contagion. When Holy Saturday arrived, the borrados (the erased ones) cast themselves into the water as an act of expulsion and purification; in this case, COVID had to be thrown into the river in order to drive it away from the community.