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Peru Travel Guide
Festivities
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Peru is renowned for its colorful festivities, lively expressions of folklore, culture and religious devotion. Peru is one of the few Western countries that continues to value and preserve its ancient rituals and traditional, authentic popular festivals. Witnessing one of the country’s major festivals will enrich any trip to Peru. They are an unrivaled – and highly photogenic – opportunity to enter into contact with the country’s rich history and authentic regional culture. The most highly recommended festivals throughout the country are: |
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Qoyllur Ritti (Mahuallane, Cusco; first week in May): The hemisphere’s greatest festival of native Indian populations, who make a pilgrimage to express their prayers for the generous fertility of the land and to Apus, the spirits of the mountains. The principal ceremony, at the foot of Mount Ausangate (5 hours from the City of Cusco), sees as many as 10,000 pilgrims who ascend to the snowline along with dancers representing mythical characters. |
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Virgen del Carmen (Paucartambo, Cusco; June 15 to 18): One of the wildest and most photographed festivals in Peru occurs when thousands descend on a remote highland village 4 hours from Cusco, to honor the patron saint of the mestizo population. The 4 days of festive music and dance include dancers on rooftops and exuberant masks and costumes. Festival-goers then honor the souls of the dead in a local cemetery. |
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La Candelaria (City of Puno; first 2 weeks of February): Puno, widely known as the Folk Capital of the Americas, celebrates its patron saint with several hundred musician and dance troupes in the streets. The highlight takes place on February 2, when the Virgen is led through the city in a colorful procession of priests and pagans, including La Diablada, the dance of the demons. |
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Inti Raymi (City of Cusco; June 24, lasting several days): The supreme pre-Columbian festival in the Americas is the Inca Festival of the Sun, which celebrates the winter solstice and honors the sun god with stunning traditional pageantry, parades, and vibrant dances. The main event, at the Sacsayhuamán ruins, includes the ritualistic sacrifice of a pair of llamas. |
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El Señor de los Milagros (City of Lima; October 18): South America’s largest religious procession dates from the colonial era and lasts a full 24 hours, with many thousands of purple-clad participants honoring the most venerated image of Christ (painted by an African slave) that survived the capital’s 1746 earthquake. |
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Semana Santa / Easter Week (Ayacucho; Late March / early April): The city of Ayacucho, in the central highlands, is known for its 33 churches and daily, candlelit Easter processions, the most spectacular in Peru. Other highlights include streets covered with carpets made of flower petals, ritual re-enactments, throne made of white wax, and parties at weeks end featuring a variety of traditional fermented maize drinks. |
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A note of caution about attending festivities: Peru’s most popular festivals attract thousands of visitors, so it’s important to keep in mind the attendant issues that come with any large event: large concentrations of crowds and crowded hotels and transportation; overtaxed services (including a lack of public bathrooms); increased opportunities for theft, etc. Understand that these festivals are not staged for tourists, and they operate on their own, traditional, time-honored schedules – meaning that visitors would do well to carefully plan their attendance so as not to spend time waiting for events. |
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Finally, the principal festivals celebrated on a national level are: Holy Thursday and Good Friday (Easter week, March/April), and Fiestas Patrias or National Celebrations (July 28–29), which mark the anniversary of independence from Spain in 1821. Both of these events are extremely popular among Peruvians tourists, so flights and hotels must be booked up well in advance. |
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For info on Peru’s festival calendar and events, visit the Promperu Calendar. For additional information about Festivities in Peru, you can write to travel@casa-andina.com |
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More than 15 years of publications, including 220 books and guides about Peru and its environment. |
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More than 15 years of publications, including 220 books and guides about Peru and its environment, five encyclopedias and more than 1,000 articles in magazines in Peru and abroad. He is considered the most prolific publisher on ecological topics in the country in the last decade. Forest engineer, journalist, publisher, professional photographer and analyst of environmental topics, Wust is the only Peruvian to publish five articles in National Geographic magazine. Currently he is the director of Wust Ediciones. |
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Ten years crisscrossing Peru, producing 240 TV programs on diverse topics. |
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Ten years crisscrossing Peru, producing 240 TV programs on diverse topics. A journalist and writer, for nearly a decade he has directed and hosted the TV program Tiempo de Viaje, in which he travels throughout Peru (and occasionally other countries), documenting natural, historical and human scenes infrequently visited by conventional tourism. His perspective is not that of a tourist, but of a traveler, who immerses himself in what he finds and shies away from nothing in his reporting. He is also the author and/or publisher of an extensive series of books about Peruvian culture. |
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The author of 15 travel guides to cities and countries around the world, including 4 editions of Frommer’s Peru. |
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The author of 15 travel guides to cities and countries around the world, including 4 editions of Frommer’s Peru, and articles on subjects ranging from the travel industry to food and wine. A travel writer, journalist and photographer, Schlecht first traveled to Peru and trekked to Machu Picchu as a student in 1983, and he has returned repeatedly to Peru over the last two decades. He has also been a consultant on international development projects for the European Union and USAID, as well as a correspondent for a Spanish art magazine. |
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With nearly 15 years of travel experience, and having lived in different places in Peru. |
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With nearly 15 years of travel experience, and having lived in different places in Peru. Agronomist, theologist, and holding an M.A in Amazonian anthropology. He’s lived 7 years with the Aguarunan people of Alto Marañon; also in Huanchaco (Trujillo), Urubamba (Cusco), and Madre de Dios. Consultant in tourism, collaborator for several media resources and professor of Sustainable Tourism Diploma at Ruiz de Montoya University. |
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