:: Virgen de la Candelaria: faith in the folk capital of the Americas

Puno
February 1-14

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.