Every year in July, the town of Pisac in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Cusco, Peru, comes alive and has a four-day fiesta to celebrate the Virgen de Carmen. This year, the festivities were from July 15 to 18, 2012.
The fiesta begins with a
corrida de caballos - a horse race near the center of town.
After the horse race, various dance troupes - called
comparsas - make their appearance for the pleasure of the many viewers. The whole town comes out to enjoy the Fiesta.
The
comparsas parade through the town with their dances and the townspeople line up to watch them.
The origin of this fiesta is that many years ago in July, the image of the Virgen of Carmen was found in the town of Pisac. Thus, each year, there is a tribute to the Virgen. The festival consists of various
cargas, each with their own
mayordomo. Each
mayordomo spends as much as $15,000 a year to pay for the entertainment for the dancers in his or her
comparsa, as well as food and drinks for the community. During the day, there are parades, shows, and dances. At night, there is music, dancing, beer, and food. This year, there are about twenty different dance troupes. Each
comparsa practices for months perfecting their routines and preparing their outfits. The result is a colorful show that lasts for days. This year's Fiesta was particularly bountiful - a sign of good economic times in Pisac in particular and Peru in general.
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| Over a dozen men carrying the Virgen de Carmen |
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| Carrying the Virgen |
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| Dancing in the streets |
One of the aspects of the festival I find interesting are the Negrillas - which represent formerly enslaved Africans. There were relatively few African slaves in the Andes, but they were not completely absent. The Negrillas form one of the dance troupes and represent freed slaves.
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| Negrillas |
With twenty dance troupes and four days of fiesta, I have lots of great pictures!
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