14:52 | Patambuco (Puno region), Jan. 15.
The Patambuco Carnival, celebrated in the district of the same name, located in Sanida Province, on Wednesday was
declared National Cultural Heritage by Peru's Ministry of Culture.
The festivity represents Puno people's Quechua world view, where land and water constitute elements that are essential to natural and social order, and strengths the collective identity of different sectors in Patambuco district and peasant communities.
Likewise, the Patambuco Carnival received a State recognition for being a cultural expression that gathers Andean and Hispanic elements linked to the agricultural cycle, as stated in a resolution published in
El Peruano official gazette.
Carnivals
Carnival is a European tradition related to fertility, whose origin dates back to religious Roman celebrations that marked the transition from winter into spring and the beginning of the agricultural cycle.
During this transition period, people assumed that social and natural order was temporarily suspended, so they had a rollicking good time that concluded with a purification period.
Both phases were assimilated by Catholicism after consolidation in Europe, but the peace disturbance period was called "carnivals."
In the Andean world, this festivity is combined with pre-Hispanic celebrations, which make the Andean carnival unique and singular.
Thus, the carnival celebrates soil fertility and the renewal of life. In addition, it takes place during the rainy season, before the period of Lent begins.
During this time, Andean peoples honor the Apus (guardian deities in the form of mountains) and the Pachamama or Mother Earth.
(END) LZD/MAO/RMB/MVB
Published: 1/15/2020