Legend of Buziraco, The Demon of the Hill of the Three Crosses

One of the most popular and important legends in Cali is the tale of Buziraco (The Demon of the Hill of the Three Crosses). This legend recounts how a demon was allegedly imprisoned through the construction of Cali’s emblematic crosses.

According to the legend, at the beginning of the 19th century, the city of Cali suffered a large number of tragedies. These ranged from fires and epidemics to lightning strikes and floods—in short, all kinds of misfortunes. These evils were attributed to a demon named Buziraco.

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It is said that this creature arrived with the Spanish. In Africa, he was an ancient god of his people. Therefore, when the Spanish brought Africans as slaves, this creature came along with them. He first arrived in Cartagena de Indias. There, he was secretly worshipped on the Cerro de la Popa (Popa Hill) by slaves and indigenous people. They were guided by the mohán (an indigenous shaman or sorcerer) Luis Andreas, as recounted in the legend of El Salto del Cabrón (The Goat’s Leap). This demon was eventually expelled from the city by Fray Alonso de La Cruz Paredes. The friar had a divine revelation and traveled to Cartagena, where he managed to banish the demon.

Buziraco then took over the hill where the three crosses stand today. From there, he began to be worshipped by the enslaved people of the city. This worship caused all the aforementioned tragedies to occur. In 1837, the friars Vicente and Juan Cuesta made a pilgrimage to the hill. They installed three crosses made of guadua (a type of thick bamboo native to the Americas), seeking to drive the demon away from the city.

That action had the expected result. However, many claimed that this act did not banish the demon, but rather imprisoned him. Regardless, with the objective achieved, the city was freed from those evils. For this reason, every year on May 3, the day of the Holy Cross, the people of Cali would climb the hill to pray and celebrate Mass.

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In 1937, Father Marco Tulio Collazos started a project to build three cement crosses on the site. These were inaugurated in 1938, with hundreds of faithful worshippers gathering for the event.

Origin of the Legend

The legend has its origins in Afro culture and the Catholic religion. Colonization caused many cultural elements of African traditions to travel with them to the American continent, including their beliefs. These legends were formed from the clash between the expression of these African beliefs and the Catholic traditions of the Europeans.

Is Buziraco and the Hill of the Three Crosses a Myth or a Legend?

The story of the Hill of the Three Crosses and Buziraco is considered a legend because it takes place within a real geographical space and a realistic historical timeframe. Furthermore, its characters and situations can be presumed to be real, despite the fact that certain points of the tale cannot be verified with absolute certainty.

The legend of Buziraco remains one of the most important stories in the mythology of Cali and the Valle del Cauca department.