Peru Tourism Bureau

Peru celebrates some 3,000 festivals a year. These are some of the most vibrant in the Americas and a highlight of virtually any visit.

The festivals in Peru have different motives. Some are religious celebrations honoring Christ, the Virgin Mary and the patron saints. In these are solemn processions like the Holy week in Ayacucho or the procession of the Lord of the Miracles in Lima. Other motives are celebrations for the harvests, the spring season and the carnivals.

A unique festival in the world is the competition of caballo de paso a fine breed of horses with a tipping gait that has made them known worlwide.

In rural areas of the country, where life can be extremely difficult and poverty is widespread, these festivals are appropriate escapes for many peruvians to enjoy. The food is abundant as well as the alcoholic drinks, usually chicha, a drink made from fermented maize. It is amazing the variety of intrincated handmade costumes as well as the impressive masks exhibiting in some festivals.

At the start of every year; the elders of each community in the area (the yayas) come together to designate the candidates who are to become the highest authorities of their villages: the Varayocs

In a festival that features gallons of chicha (maize beer) and llonque (sugarcane alcohol), the mayor or Varayoc receives the scepter or vara that symbolizes his power. This pre-Hispanic custom has glossed over whith Occidental formalities.
The varas are crafted from local wood varietes such as chonta palm, black hualtaco, huallacán or membrillo, measure around a meter in length and are inlaid with gold and silver (Cuzco’s Town Hall features a small museum that exhibits some superb examples). When a Varayoc steps down from his post, he ceases to hold any post in his community ever again, and becomes one of the venerable elders.

Virgen de la Candelaria: faith in the folk capital of the Americas
Puno
February 1-14

La Diablada

For 18 days, the highland town of Puno, nestled on the shores of Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 3,870 meters (12,693 feet) above sea level becomes the Folk Capital of the Americas . The festival gathers more than 200 groups of musicians and dancers to celebrate the Mamacha Candelaria. For the first nine days, the mayordomos (those in charge of organizjng the festivities), decorate the church and pay for Mass, banquets and fireworks displays. One the main day, February 2, the virgin is led through the .city in a colorful procession comprising priests, altar boys and the faithful, Christians and pagans carefully maintainig the hlerarchy. This is the moment when the troupes musicians and dancers take the scene, performing and dancing throughout the city. The festival is linked to the pre-Hispanic agricultural cycles of sowing and harvesting, as well as mining activities in the region. It is the result of a blend of respectful Aymara gaiety and ancestral Quechua , seriousness. The dance of the demons, or diablada , the main dance of the festival, was allegedly dreamed by a group of miners trapped down a mine who, in their desperation, resigned their souls to the Virgen de la Candelaria. The dancers. blowing zampoña pan-pipes and clad in spectacular costumes and outlandish masks, make their offerings to the earth goddess Pachamama. The masks most imprensive for their terrifying aspect, are those of the deer fitted with long twisted horns sjmilar to the Devil. and Jacancho. the god of minerals. During the farewell. or cacharpari. the dancers who fill the streets finally head to the cemetery to render homage to the dead.

Peruvian carnivals are marked by the festive character of Andean areas, which regularly break their solemn traditions. Beyond regional variations, a common characteristic of nearly the entire highland chain is the ritual of the yunza, called umisha in the jungle and cortamonte, on the coast. It involves artificially planting a tree trunk laden with gifts, which the guests dance around until it is chopped with a machete or an ax. The couple who make the final hack that brings down the tree will then both be in charge of organizing the yunza next year. Peruvians across the country are extremely fond of tossing buckets of water at each other during this festival, so onlookers would be wise to take precautions. Cities where carnivals reach a high include Cajamarca and Puno.

Wine Festival: A miracle in the desert
Ica.
2nd week of March

This festival is a celebrebration of the abundance of grapes and wine in the region of Ica (a four-hour drive south of Lima), where persevering efforts in local vineyards have spread greenery across vast tracts of once bone-dry desert.

The Wine Festival (Festival de la Vendimia) involves fairs, competitions, processions of floats, musical festivals and parties where guests dance the Afro-Peruvian festejo.

One of the major attractions of the event is the Queen of the Wine Festival beaty pageant. Accompanied by her hand-maidens. The beauty queen accompanied by her hand-maidens treads grapes in a vat in the time-honored tradition to extract the juice that will eventually be fermented Apart from the delicious local sweets known as tejas,made from pecans or candied fruits, filled with caramel and covered with sugar icing,those attending the event can try pisco,the aromatic and tasty grape brandy that originated in this part of southern Peru four centures ago.

Holy Week
The fervor of Ayacucho
March.

Semana Santa - Ayacucho

Holy Week represent the peak of religious sentiment for the people of the Andes. The departmental capital of Ayacucho, Ayacucho located in the central Andes at an altitude of 2,761 meters (9,056 feet) above sea level, celebrates one of the most intense portrayals of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.

The week starts out with the entry of Jesus riding on a donkey into the city. On Wednesday, the images of the Virgin Mary and Saint John are paraded in fervent processions through streets carpeted with flower petals until they meet up with the litter bearing the image of Christ, whom they “greet” in the main square. On the evening of Holy Friday, the lights of the city wink out to give way to the Christ of Calvary. The image sets out from the Monastery of Santa Clara in a procession through the streets on a litter strewn with white roses, followed by the grieving Virgin Mary and lines of men and women strictly dressed in mourning bearing lit candles. The litter, which features thousands of white candles, is simply magnificent.

The litter is then accompanied with prayers and songs throughout the night until the three-hour sermon is delivered on Saturday. Resurrection Sunday takes on a festive air and after days of grieving. Christ is resurrected and appears once more on his litter and is carried through the streets.

Concurso Nacional del Caballo Peruano de Paso

The Spanish horse, bred with the Arab stallion and reared in a desert enviroment, which formed its gait, gave rise to the Peruvian Paso horse . For 300 years, the blood of this new breed was improved upon until the Paso horse developed the characteristics that have made it one of the world's most beautiful and elegant breeds Breeders, chaIán riders and artisans, over the years, have worked on the art of ambladura.

The synchronized gait of the fore and hindlegs- which in turn gave rise to the elegant steps and dress of the marinera. The entire costume comprises the saddle and trimmings and the splendid outfit of the chalán himself (white shirt and trousers. wide-brimmed straw hat. vicuña wool poncho. handkerchief, boots and spurs).
This tradition, which has been exported all over the world, has been spurred on by a number of competitions both along the Peruvian coast as well as in the highlands.
The most important competition however; is the National El Paso Horse Competition held every year at Mamacona stables near Pachacámac located 30 km (19 miles) south of Lima.

Q'oyllur Riti. The greatest indigenous pilgrimage in the Americas
Quispicanchis (Cuzco)
Date: May (1 st week)

Each year the people of the district of Ocongate (Quispicanchis) perfom a ritual whose external aspect appears to be the image of Christ, but whose real objective is to bring Man closer to Nature . The ritual, associated with the fertility of the land and the worship of Apus, the spirits of the mountains, forms part of the greatest festival of native Indian nations in the hemisphere: Qoyllur Rit'i. The main ceremony is held at the foot of Mount Ausangate, at 4,700 meters (15,416 feet), above sea level, where temperatures often plunge below freezing. The ritual brings thousands of pilgrims, including shepherds, traders and the merely curious who gather at the shrine at Sinakara. Popular belief has it that the infant Christ, dressed as a shepherd, appeared to a young highland Indian boy, Marianito Mayta, and they quickly became friends. When Mayta's parents found them dressed in rich tunics, they informed the local parish priest, Pedro de Landa, who attempted in vain to capture the infant Christ who had disappeared and left behind only a stone. Marianito died immediately, and the image of the Lord of Qoyllur Rit'i appeared on the stone. Today, the festival starts off with the day of the Holy Trinity, when more than 10,000 pilgrims climb to the snowline, accompanied by all sorts of dancers in full costume (chauchos, qollas, pabluchas or ukukus and various mythical characters). The ukukus, or bears, are the guardians of the Lord the Apu mountain spirits, and apachetas, stone cairns built along the way by pilgrims to atone for their sins. The ukukus maintain order during religious ceremonies. A group of hefty queros, members of what is probably Peru´s purest Quechua community, dress up as 'pabluchas and set out for the mountaintop, at 6,362 meters (20,867 feet), in search of the Snow Star which is reputedly buried within the mountain.
On their way back down to their communities. they haul massive blocks of ice on their backs for the symbolic irrigation of their lands with holy water from the Ausangate.

Inti Raymi
The Inca festival of the Sun
Cuzco
JUNE 24
Inti Raymi-Cuzco

The Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere and the local harvests are the driving force behind the greatest, most majestic pre-Hispanic ceremony to render homage to the sun. Today, the Inti Raymi festival evokes the splendid Inca ritual of yore, being carefully scripted by Cuzco professors, archaeologists and historians. The central event is acted out on the esplanade below the imposing fortress of Sacsayhuamán, 2 km (1 mille) outside the city of Cuzco, easily reached by car or on foot. There, step by step, thousands of actors enact a long ceremony giving thanks to the sun god, Inti. The Inca ruler is borne on a royal litter from the Koricancha. or Temple of the Sun to the Huacaypat, the city's main square, where he commands the local authorities to govern fairly.

Then all the participants set out for Sacsayhuamán, where the ceremony calls for the sacrifice of two llamas. one black and one white. The llamas entrails and fat are handed to a pair of high priests: the first. the Callpa Ricuy, examines the intestines to predict what sort of year lies ahead; while the second priest the Wupariruj, makes his predictions based on the smoke that wafts up from the burning fat. The high priests' predictions are then interpreted by the Willac Umo, the lord hig priest who bears the news to the Inca. Finally, at sunset, the Inca orders all to withdraw from the site, and the entire city breaks out into festivities that will rage for several days.

The festival of spring is celebrated all over Peru, with especially colorful variants in the jungle. Trujillo, capital of the departament of La Libertad however, has forged a particular reputation for holding the festival of greatest splendor . This festival is intimately linked to the marinera norteña, which is always danced by a couple, waving a handkerchief in the air to keep time. The festival features various tournaments demonstrating the regional variations of this dance. During the week-long festival, streets and homes fill with decorations, floats are paraded through the city, and troupes of schoolchildren dance through the streets, led by the beauty queen of the spring pageant. The beauty queen is, always flanked by drum majorettes who travel here from all over the world to show off their skills.

The Lord of Miracles: The largest procession in South America
Lima.
October 18-28

Procesión del Señor de los Milagros-Lima

This procession , which gathers together the largest number of believers in South America, dates back to colonial times, when a slave, brought over from Angola, drew the image of a black Christ on the walls of a wretched hut in the plantation of Pachacamilla, near Lima. The image stayed on the wall despite several attempts to erase it. This was to spark widespread devotion for the image,which survived intact on the wall despite an earthquake in 1746 which leveled all surrounding buildings. As a result of this event, worship of the image rose to new heights, until it became what is today the most widely venerated image in the city of Lima. The heart of the celebration is one of the largest processions to take place every year in the Americas, where tens of thousands of the faithful dress in purple tunics, singing hymns and praying as they accompany the image. The litter which Turrón de doña pepa

bears the painting weighs two tons and is borne on the shoulders of believers who set out on the traditional 24-hour procession from the church of Las Nazarenas, crossing downtown Lima until it reaches the church of La Merced in Barrios Altos. Around this time of year, the streets fill with vendors of a wide variety of typical dishes and sweets, such as the famous Turrón de Doña Pepa. In October to commemorate the Lord of Miracles (Señor de los Milagros), Lima hosts the well-known bullfight season which carries the same name and is held in the centuries-old Plaza de Acho bullring. The season features some major bullfighters (toreros) from Spain and Latin America.