Cusco Peru Festivities Uncovered!

Festivities in Cusco Peru

1) Inti Raymi

The Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun) was a religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the god Inti. It also marked the winter solstice and a new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere. It was very spectacular and magnificent event, which was made in the times of the empire of the Tahuantinsuyo and the religion was based in worshiping the Sun. Since 1944, a theatrical representation of the Inti Raymi has been taking place at Sacsaywaman (two km. from Cusco) on June 24 of each year, attracting thousands of tourists and local visitors. The party to the Sun begins at the Qoricancha. After this, the Inka will go to the Main Square and then they celebrate the main ceremony in the plains of Sacsaywaman.

During the Inca Empire, the Inti Raymi was the most important of four ceremonies celebrated in Cusco, as related by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The ceremony was also said to indicate the mythical origin of the Incas, lasting nine days of colorful dances and processions, as well as animal sacrifices to ensure a good cropping season.

Today the Inti Raymi is organized every year in Saqsaywaman, the day of San Juan the 24 of June. This same day is the beginning day or day of the farmer in Peru.

Coylluriti ceremony comes to life on the first week of May when more than 10,000 followers go up the mountain. The temperature is -4ºC in the trek all of the followers are accompanied by a band, fireworks and the symbolic market of Alacitas.

The main ceremony is made at the bottom of the snow capped mountain Ausangate. The ritual will include priest, locals and believers who will all come together in the sanctuary of Sinakara.

There will be different types of dancers like (chauchos, qollas, pabluchas, and ukukus) who represent different myth characters. The ukukus are the guardians of the Lord, as well as the Apus and apachetas (small knolls of dirt, which they represent the sins) there also in charge of keeping the order during the ceremony.

Huanca is celebrated the 14 of September, is characterized for the amount of people that come to see this. On September 14, thousands of devotees from Cusco, Peru and even from places like Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile flock to the Santuary of Huanca to receive the blessing of the Lord. Huanca is a beautiful place located at the bottom of the mountain Pachatusan.

Paucartambo is done every year in the colonial town of Paucartambo, at an altitude of 3,017 meters meters above sea level and 110 km from the city of Cusco. Thousand of believers and visitors will come to celebrate the festivity of Virgen Del Carmen between the 15th and 18th of July of every year.

For five days( starting on the 15th of July), thousands of devotees hold festivals in honor of the Virgen del Carmen, known locally as Mamacha Carmen, patron saint of the mestizo population. Dance groups, all magnificently masked and costumed in accordance with their respective customs, accompany the Mamacha in a huge parade, gaily dancing down the city streets. Behind them the entire population of the town gathers quietly, forming itself into a pious mass bearing candles, flowers and other offerings. It is a colorful mix of Andean pre-Columbian ceremonies and Catholic religion in which many ancient gods and rites are honored.

Holy Week, known as Semana Santa, is treated as one of the most important religious festivals of the entire year. Holy Week in Christianity is the last week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday), Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday (or in the East, Lazarus Saturday) until but not including Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of The Great Fifty Days. It commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

The celebration of Corpus Christi is the most impressive in Cusco. Fifteen saints and virgins, organized in several processions, arrive from different places to the cathedral of Cusco where to came to “greet” the body of Christ, sixty days after Eastern Sunday. During the day you can hear the sounds of the María Angola, the biggest Church Bell of Peru, built during XVI century by Diego Arias de la Cerda. The night before the main day twelve tipical dishes are prepared and consumed, including cuy chiriuchu), beer, chichi (tipical local beer) and bread.

Alter the procession, the saints return to the cathedral to salute alter the seven days go by, then the saints again return to their own churches to stay there the whole year. These are taken by foot to the streets of Cusco in the middle of songs and prayers. It is an excellent opportunity to feel the Peruvian Culture.

The Santuranticuy is celebrated every year, on December 24th. Santuranticuy means “sale of saints” and it is a market where many people from the mountains come to sell images of the baby Jesus, Virgin Mary, Joseph and the three kings. The fair also sells a variety of ceramic objects brought from Pucara and Quinua. Here one can find all sorts of arts and crafts, such as wooden carvings, pottery and the boxed scenes called retablos. At night, street vendors sell a traditional hot and sweet rum punch called ponche, to warm up chilly visitors.

According to the believers, since 1650, a statue of the “Cristo de la buena Suerte” had stopped an earthquake that was shaking the city of Cusco and the locals now worship the statue of the “Taitacha Temblors”. This celebration has special interest because it shows the devotion of the catholic religion. The procession of El Senor de los Temblores takes place in the Plaza de Armas and the whole city will turn out.

List of Peru Festivities Calendar throughout the year:

Jan
1)Date:1-Jan
Event:Surrenders of Stick
Venue:Cusco Peru
Description:Cusco Peru leaders designate the highest authorities of their villages in this pre-columbian festival, which is celebrated with chicha (fermented maize beer) and llonque (sugar cane alcohol), the mayor accepts the scepter symbolizing his power. The custom has been glossed over with Occidental formalities.

2) Date:Third Thursday in Jan
Event:Celebration of Santa Tierra
Venue:Lake Titicaca
Description:The main festival on Isla Amantan sees the population split into two - half at the Temple of Pachamama and the other half at the Temple of Pachatata, symbolizing the islanders' ancient dualistic belief system.

3)Date:Jan 20-30
Event:Marinera Dance Festival
Venue:Trujillo
Description:One of the stateliest dance in Peru, the flirtatious marinera involves a couple, each partner with a handkerchief in his or her right hand. The man wears a wide-brimmed hat and poncho, and the woman wears a lace Moche dress. For 10 days, the festivals which draws couples from all over the country, is held in the Gran Chim Soccer Stadium. There are also float processions throughout the city and dancing in Plaza de Armas.

Feb
1)Date:1-14 Feb
Event:Virgen de la Candelaria
Venue:Puno
Description:As the Folk Capital of the Americas with this festival, it gathers more than 200 groups of musician and dance troupes. On the festival main day, Feb 2, the Virgen is led through the city in a colourful procession of priests and pagans carefully maintaining the hierarchy. The more exciting part is the dance of the demons or la diablada. Dances in wild costumes and masks blow pan pipes and make offering to the earth goddess Pachamama.

2) Date:Weekend before Ash Wednesday
Event:Carnaval
Venue:Cajamarca
Description:Lively pre-Lentern festivities, look out for balloons filled with water. Cajamarca is reputable to have the best and wildest parties, Puno and Cusco are also good.

Mar
1)Date:2nd week of March
Event:Festival Internacional de la Vendimia (Wine Festival)
Venue:Ica
Description:A celebration of the grape harvest and the region's wine and pisco brandy with fairs, beauty contests, floats and musical festivals, including Afro-Peruvian dance.

2)Date:Mid-March to first week of April
Event:Las Cruces de Porcn
Venue:Cajamarca
Description:A dawn procession of massive decorated wooden crosses through the valley of Porcn re-creates the entry of Christ into Jerusalem. The main day of the festival, Palm Sunday, presents four separate ceremonies. The crosses are decorated with mirrors symbolizing the souls of the dead and locals hang metal bells to announce the arrival of the crosses to the community.

3)Date:Late March/early April
Event:Semana Santa
Venue:Cusco and Ayacucho
Description:Handsome and spectacularly reverent processions mark Easter week.

4)Date:Easter Monday, late March/early April
Event:Lord of the Earthquakes
Venue:Cusco Peru
Description:Representing a 17th-century painting of Christ on the cross that is said to have saved the city from a devastating earthquake, the image of the Lord of Earthquake (El Seor de los Temblores) is carried through the streets of Cusco Peru in a reverential procession, much like the Incas once paraded the mummies of the chieftains and high priests.

Apr
1) Date:15-20 April
Event:Peruvian Paso Horse Festival
Venue:Pachacmac
Description:The Peruvian Paso horse, one of the world's most beautiful breeds, is celebrated with the most important annual national competition at the Mamacona stables nera Pachacmac, 30km south of Lima.

May
1) Date:2 and 3 May
Event:Fiesta de la Cruz
Venue:Lima, Cusco Peru and Ica
Description:The festival of the Cross features folk music and dance, including 'scissors dances' and processions in which communities decorate crosses and prepare them for the procession to neighboring churches. The danzantes de tijeras (scissors dancers) recreate old time, when they performed on top of church bell towers. The objectives today is still to outdo one another with daring feats.

2) Date:First week of May
Event:Qoyllur Rit'I
Venue:Quispicanchis, near Cusco Peru
Description:A massive indigenous pilgrimage marks this ritual, which is tied to the fertility fo the land and the worship of Apus, the spirits of the mountains. It 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, with 10,000 pilgrims climbing to the snowline along with dancers in full custome representing mythical characters. Others head to the summit, in search of the Snow Star, and take huge blocks of ice back down on their backs--holy water for irrigation purposes.

3) Date:2 to 10 May
Event:Fiesta de Mayo (El Seor de la Soledad)
Venue:Huaraz
Description:This festival is celebrated with traditional dances, ski races and a lantern procession.

Jun
1)Date:Early Jun
Event:Corpus Christi
Venue:Cusco Peru
Description:A procession of saints and virgins arrives at the Cathedral to greet the body of Christ. Members of nearby churches also take their patron saints in a procession. An overnight vigil is followed by a new procession around the Plaza de Armas, with images of five virgins clad in embroidered tunics and the images of four saints: Sebastian, Blas, Joseph and the Apostle Santiago (St. James).

2)Date:Mid to late Jun
Event:Semana del Andinismo
Venue:Huaraz and Callejn de Huaylas
Description:For outdoors enthusiasts, this celebration of outdoor adventure includes opportunities to partake in trekking, skiing, mountain biking, rafting, rock climbing, hang gliding and myriads of parties to accompany them.

3)Date:24-Jun
Event:Inti Raymi
Venue:Cusco Peru
Description:The Inca Festival of the Sun - the mother of all pre-Columbian festivals, celebrates the winter solstice and honors the sun god with traditional pageantry, parades and dances. One of the most vibrant and exciting of all Andean festivals, it draws thousands of visitors who fill Cusco hotels. The principal event takes place at the Sacsayhuamamn ruins and includes the sacrifice of a pair of llamas. General celebrations last several days.

4)Date:24 Jun (Cusco Peru), 25 Jun (Iquitos)
Event:San Juan
Venue:Cusco Peru and Iquitos
Description:The feast day of St. John the Baptist, a symbol of fertility and sensuality, is the most important date on the festival calendar in the entire Peruvian jungle. John the Baptist has taken on a majot symbolic significance because of the importance of water as a vital element in the entire Amazon region. Events include fiestas with lots of music and regional cuisine. In Iquitos, don't miss the aphrodisiac potions with suggestive names.

5)Date:29-Jun
Event:San Pedro/San Pablo
Venue:near fishing villages in Lima and Chiclayo
Description:The patrons saints of fishermen and farmers, Saints Peter and Saint Paul are honored. Figures of the saints are carried with incense, prayers and hymns down to the sea and are taken by launch around the bay to bless the waters.

6)Date:15 to 18 Jun
Event:Virgen del Carmen
Venue:Paucartambo and Pisac
Description:In a remote highland village 4 hours from Cusco, thousands come to honour the Virgen del Carmen or Mamacha Carmen, patron saint of the mestizo population, with 4 days of splendidly festive music and dance, as well as some of the wildest costumes in Peru. Dancers even perform daring moves on rooftops. The festival ends in the cemetery in a show of respect for the souls of the dead.

Jul
1)Date:25 Jul and 1,2 of Aug
Event:Fiesta de Santiago
Venue:Isla Taquile
Description:A festive and very traditional pageant of color with exuberant dances and women in layered, multicolored skirts.

2)Date:28 and 29 Jul
Event:Fiestas Patrias
Venue:Cusco Peru, Puno, Isla Taquile and Lima
Description:A series of parties with patriotic fervor mark Peru's independence from Spain in 1821. Official parades and functions are augmented by cockfighting, bullfighting and Peruvian Paso horses exhibitions in other towns.

Aug
1)Date:30-Aug
Event:Santa Rosa de Lima
Venue:Lima
Description:Major devotional processions honor the patron saint of Lima.

Sep
1)Date:Last week in Sep
Event:International Spring Festival
Venue:Trujillo
Description:Trujillo celebrates the festival of spring with marinera dance, decorated streets and houses, floats and schoolchildren dancing in the streets, led by pageant beauty queen.

Oct
1)Date:18-Oct
Event:El Seor de los Milagros
Venue:Lima
Description:The Lord of Miracles is the largest procession in South America and it dates from colonial times. Lasting nearly 24 hours and involving tens of thousands of purple clad participants, it celebrates a Christ image that survives the 1746 earthquake and has since become the most venerated image in the capital.

Nov
1)Date:1 and 2 Nov
Event:Todos Santos and Da de los Muertos
Venue:highlands
Description:Peruvians salute the dead by visiting the cemeteris with flowers and food. Families hold candlelight vigils in the cemetery until dawn.

2)Date:First week of Nov
Event:Puno week
Venue:Puno
Description:A major procession from the shores of the lake to the town stadium celebrated Manco Cpac, who according to ledeng, rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca to establish the Inca Empire. Dances and music take over Puno with events often taking a turn for the inebriated.

Dec
1)Date:24-Dec
Event:Santuranticuy Fair
Venue:Cusco Peru
Description:One of the largest arts and crafts fair in Peru, literally means 'saints for sale', is held in the Plaza de Armas. Artisans lay out blankets around the square, as in traditional Andean markets, sell figurines and Nativity scenes as well as ceramics, carvings, pottery and retablos (altars). Vendors sell hot rum punch called ponche.

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