Festivity of Virgen de la Candelaria

Candelaria Virgin Feast

Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - UNESCO November 2014

For 18 days, the highland town of Puno, nestled on the shores of Lake Titicaca is becomes the Folk Capital of the Americas.

The Festivity of Virgen de la Candelaria, gathers more than 200 groups of musicians and dancers to celebrate the Mamacha Candelaria. Religious processions, parades, band concerts, dance contest, explosion of color and joy, masks, the fantasy clothes and suits of their dancers, many are made with threads of gold, semi-precious stones and embroideries and exquisite laces, with a high value.

This feast is considered as one of the most important from Peru and one of the three most significant in South America along with Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and the Carnaval de Oruro.

The Virgen de la Candelaria (Our Lady of Candlemas) is patron of Puno City. The virgin's sanctuary is located in the San Juan Bautista Church in Puno City.

The date of the celebration is movable, depending upon which day of the week Candlemas falls. The central day of the religious feast is February 2nd.

For the first nine days, the mayordomos (those in charge of organizing the festivities), decorate the church and pay for Mass, banquets and fireworks displays.

On the main day, February 2, the virgin is led through the city in a colorful procession comprising priests, altar boys, the faithful, Christians and pagans carefully maintaining the hierarchy. This is the moment when the troupes of 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 up 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 panpipes and clad in spectacular costumes and outlandish masks, make their offerings to the earth goddess Pachamama.

The most impressive masks, for their terrifying aspect, are those of the deer fitted with long twisted horns similar 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.

Parallel to this feast the dance competition held, organized by the Regional Federation of Folklore and Culture of Puno, calling the presence of more than 150 sets, between native dances that come from the communities and biases of Puno, and sets of dances organized in different districts of the City of Puno, mostly known as dances with costumes, which directly involved 50 thousand dancers and some 15 thousand musicians, adding to its indirect stake about 25 thousand people including directors, sponsorships, embroiderers, artisans in the making of masks, boots and shoes, bells and other items.

The Regional Competition of Autochthonous Dances takes place at Torres Belón Stadium.

Festivity of Virgen de la Candelaria - Video

  • Candelaria Virgin Feast

    Festivity Virgen de la Candelaria

    © J. Mazzotti

  • Candelaria Virgin Feast

    Festivity Virgen de la Candelaria

    © J. Mazzotti

  • Candelaria Virgin Feast

    Festivity Virgen de la Candelaria

    © J. Mazzotti