Major festivities during Winter

Inti Raymi : the Resurrection of the Sun
Held during the winter solstice, the Inti Raymi or Fiesta del Sol (Sun Celebration) was the most important festivity of the ancient Peru. If there is an event you can't miss during your visit to Peru, this for sure is it. Spectacular and millenary, the celebration of the God Sun -the highest god of the Incas-, aimed at stopping it from further moving away from the Earth, but also for sunlight to keep supporting life in the planet.

During the Inca Empire, the festival was attended by the main Cusco authorities and the highest representatives from the four nations of the Tahuantinsuyo (the Inca land). All attendants were impeccably dressed, the military carrying their finest weapons. Soon after the Spanish had conquered the empire, the Catholic Church forbid what they considered a pagan-ritual. And it was not until the XX century that the festivity was recovered by a group of artists and intellectuals from Cusco. They started to represent it as a play, which evolved year after year thanks to continuous historical research.

Nowadays the ritual is very similar to the original. It takes place in the esplanade of Sacsayhuaman, and is recited in Quechua with an almost simultaneous Spanish translation. The extensive research has also allowed a faithful recreation of the original clothing and accessories (though obviously gold isn't used anymore). The rehearsals for the event take up to several weeks. The Inti Raymi is organized by Emufec, the municipality company responsible for the traditional Cusco festivities.

The celebration takes place at the end of June. The procession departs at 9am from Koricancha (Plazoleta Santo Domingo) and arrives the Sacsayhuaman fortress at around noon. Tickets for an outstanding viewpoint range from $50 to $70 and are available at the EMUFEC offices (Calle Santa Catalina Ancha 333, Phone 084-244504, www.emufec.gob.pe). Many locals, though, watch the celebration from the hills that surround the esplanade.

Virgen del Carmen
The Virgen del Carmen festivity -known locally as Mamacha Carmen- is a perfect example of the syncretism between Spanish Catholicism and Inca culture. Thousands of devotees celebrate all day and night long in many towns in the Cusco department, though the most well-know festivity takes place in Paucartambo, a 4-hour ride from Cusco.

Mamacha Carmen, patron saint of the mestizos, is accompanied through the procession by dance companies in richly decorated costumes. There are musicians playing Andean instruments and a choir that sings in Quechua. On the central day, June 16th, the Virgin is carried through town for her to bless the attendants and scare away demons. After a simulated battle against, the parade heads towards the cemetery to render homage to the dead.

Though the main day is the 16th, you could reach Paucartambo a couple of days earlier to see the preparations. It's a good idea to book an accommodation in advance. If you go, don't miss in the spectacular sunrise from Tres Cruces viewpoint (make sure to wear warm clothes because it gets pretty cold up there).

Haywariquy
The Haywariquy or Offering Ceremony takes place in the Korikancha esplanade on the eve of July 28th. Celebrated every year by the Incas, the ceremony's aim was to honour Pachamama (Mother Earth, in Quechua) with the offering of various goods, as well as to invoke better times for the empire. The current representation is an amazing nocturnal show featuring ritual dances, music, artificial fires and luminous effects.

Fiestas Patrias (Peru's Independence Day)
The declaration of independence by José de San Martín (July 28th, 1821) is commemorated with Criollo and folkloric music shows in public squares and parks. A religious ceremony, the Te Deum, is celebrated in Lima's Cathedral on the 29th, as well as a military parade. Lima and other coastal cities feature cockfighting and bullfighting events.

Yawar Fiesta
In the Ccollurqui county, province of Cotabambas, Department of Apurímac, Independence day is celebrated with an ancient ritual called Yawar Fiesta, or Blood Celebration (Yawar means blood in Quechua).

This highly symbolic and brutal show has as main protagonists a bull and a condor, the former portraying the Spanish aspects of Peru, the latter, the Andean ones. A live condor is captured and driven to the village, where various ceremonies will be held in it's honour. After getting the bird drunk -usually with wine-, its feet are tied to the bulls back, and both animals left to fight in the ring. While the condor tries to liberate its feet using its massive beak, the bull lurches desperately and furiously around the bullring.

Traditionally, the struggle ends with an exhausted bull bathed in blood. The following day the condor is liberated.

Santa Rosa de Lima -Patron Saint of the Americas and the Philippines
Saint Rose of Lima was the name given to a seventeenth-century inhabitant of Lima. Isabel Flores de Oliva felt a great religious vocation and dedicated herself to being a laywoman, without belonging to any religious order in particular. She was to spend her life caring for the sick and her penitence undertaken to resist sin, as well as her good nature earned her fame even while she was alive.

Veneration of her figure spread not only in Peru but also to the Philippines. Her shrine, located in downtown Lima, is constantly visited by pilgrims in search of a miracle, especially those seeking to cure an illness. On August 30, pilgrims often cast letters detailing their needs into the wishing well where Saint Rose dropped the key from her cilice. Others visit the hermitage that the saint herself built. Saint Rose is the patron saint of Peru. Although her festival is celebrated across the country, it has a special Quechua emphasis in the town of Santa Rosa de Quives, in the highlands of the department of Lima (taken from Festivities, Music, and Folk Art in Perú by PromPerú).

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