Words from Los Santos
Los Santos is Azuero, and Azuero is where the country keeps its folklore: the tamborito, the pollera, the accordion and the patron-saint festivals that give the year its calendar. Its speech carries rural vocabulary the city rarely hears, or hears as something grandparents say. These are the words the corpus marks as Los Santos’.
14 entries in this list
calle arriba / calle abajo
The two rival Carnival troupes of Las Tablas, each with its own queen, band and territory.
culecos
The morning ritual of Panamanian Carnival: water trucks spray the dancing crowd.
cutarra
A rustic leather sandal, the traditional footwear of the Panamanian countryside and part of the montuno outfit.
diablico sucio
A folkloric character in a devil mask and red-and-black striped costume, who dances at patron-saint festivals, most notably at Corpus Christi in La Villa de…
huevito de leche
A small firm sweet of milk cooked down with sugar, with the shape of an egg, wrapped in colorful papers.
mejorana
A small five-string guitar native to the Panamanian countryside, and by extension the musical genre played on it.
montuno
Panama's traditional men's outfit: an openwork white shirt, dark trousers, a sombrero pintao and leather cutarra sandals.
murga
The brass and percussion band that accompanies the tuna at Carnival, playing nonstop while the street sings.
pesada de nance
A thick sweet of nance cooked with corn and raw cane sugar, served in a small cup.
pollera
Panama's national women's dress, hand-embroidered and worn with gold jewelry and tembleques in the hair.
tamborito
Panama's national music and dance form, performed with drums, handclaps and call-and-response singing between a lead singer and chorus.
tembleque
The beaded wire hair ornament worn with the pollera, which trembles as the wearer moves — hence the name.
típico
Panama's popular folk-dance genre, built on accordion, drum, churuca scraper and voice, derived from cumbia and mejorana.
tuna
A Carnival troupe with its brass band, its queen and its followers, which parades and sings.