Each year, thousands of pilgrims journey to Sorte Mountain in Venezuela to honor María Lionza, a folk goddess central to a powerful spiritual tradition. During the Baile en Candela celebration, devotees jump through bonfires, claiming to feel no pain while possessed by spirits. Through candlelit healing rituals, they connect with the different cortes—spirits of Indigenous chiefs, Afro-Venezuelan warriors, Catholic saints, revolutionary heroes, and the elusive malandro cortes, representing tricksters and outlaws—seeking guidance and protection.

The pilgrimage is both a spiritual and communal act of resistance amid Venezuela’s crisis. Through fire, trance, and prayer, the faithful invoke their saints and enter altered states, embracing a layered history of belief and resilience.