San Juan Bautista la Raya

La Raya belongs to the metropolitan area of Oaxaca and to the municipality of Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, about 10 km south of the capital, at 1,514 metres on the bank of the Atoyac River and almost against the airport. The 2020 census counted 2,664 residents. Its church is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, and its fame rests chiefly on a carnival tradition.

Every year, on the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday, the Diablos of La Raya come out. They used to appear on Shrove Tuesday, and the season could last up to fifteen days. Groups dress in houses: a long-sleeved shirt and shorts, usually poplin, with triangles along the edges suggesting hooves or scales, fabric extensions on the sleeves like bat wings, a full face mask, a cane cucurucho with rolled metal strips for horns, and a braided ixtle whip that cracks on the ground. Each devil gives his own cry, the "ñojojó".

On Sunday the plaza fills: schools run fundraising kermesses, people form a ring, and the costumed step into the centre to dance or perform parodies before a jury that rewards humour and creativity. People explain the origin differently: that the devils were "judíos" searching for Jesus, that they chased death away, or that a man from Zaachila brought the custom after marrying a local woman. The carnival also has a courting side: a cascarón or a larger lira handed to a young woman announced the masked man's interest.