Festivals in Bolivia
The two-week Feria de Alasitas takes place in La Paz beginning January 24. It’s an orgy of wishful thinking, as everybody buys miniature versions of the things they long for, including cars, houses, visas to the United States, wads of euros, and gigantic penises, and gets them blessed by the Pachamama, an Incan deity representing Mother Earth. Even the newspapers are published in tiny editions. The creativity is dazzling, and it’s a great souvenir opportunity.
February brings Carnival, a weeklong celebration that includes music and dancing all over the country. The biggest bash is held in the mining town of Oruro, 225 km (140 miles) southeast of La Paz. It’s a pre-Lenten tradition, started more than 200 years ago, when workers, dressed as devils, danced to honor the Virgin in a festival called La Diablada. Although the Saturday before Ash Wednesday is the biggest day for the huge groups of Bolivian dancers, festivities last for a week. Away from the religious spectacle, Carnival is an excuse for some serious partying and can get very rowdy.
Pujllay is a colorful festival commemorating the 1816 victory by the Tarabucan people over the Spanish (a rare event in South American history); it takes place the week after Carnival in the village of Tarabuco. The battle is re-created, but without the hand-to-hand fighting, steel claws, and bloodshed. Nonetheless, the spectacle of drunken, sweating warriors marching down the streets to the battleground is still stirring, as is the sight of all the tourists being overcharged for handicrafts.
Easter and especially Good Friday celebrations, characterized by candlelit religious processions by masked supplicants, are held all over the country, but are particularly impressive in Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. They are preceded by the arrival of pilgrims who have walked from La Paz over the preceding three or four days. Book early if you want to stay in the town over the Easter period, and get there a couple of days before; the pilgrims move faster than the traffic jams on Good Friday itself.
June 24, the Fiesta de San Juan in La Paz, is traditionally regarded as the coldest day of the year. It’s warmed up with bonfires, hot drinks, and hot dogs, and huge firework displays all over the city—many using suborbital-size rockets and enough dynamite to bring down the government. Get a view from high up and enjoy the show.
El Día de Todos los Santos (All Saints’ Day) and El Día de los Muertos (All Souls’ Day) take place all over Bolivia on November 1 and 2. On November 1 families prepare breads shaped in the form of things that hold importance—and at exactly noon the dead descend on the table. They remain there for 24 hours, then on All Souls’ Day they are gone. Many families then go to the cemetery and party around—and on top of—the graves of their ancestors late into the night.
