The Candelaria Festival : Why Go
The city Puno is located at the banks of the Lake Titicaca at 3,870 meters above sea level. Every year in February, Puno transforms into the folkloric capital of America, when the Candelaria Festival takes place. More than 200 music groups and dancers participate in the festival and fill the streets in colourful parades.
On the main day of the festival, the statue of the holy virgin is carried towards the city in a colourful procession with joyful music, traditional dances and impressive costumes. 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 traditions.
It is said that the main dance of the festival, the dance of the demons, or "Diablada", was 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 pan-pipes and clads in spectacular costumes and outlandish masks, make their offerings to the earth goddess Pachamama. The most impressive masks, due to their terrifying look, are those with long twisted horns similar to the Devil, as well as Jacancho, the god of minerals.
