I don’t know quite how time goes by so quickly, but I think that’s a sign that I’m living life fully, which is good, so please forgive me for telling these stories I’m about to share a bit late. While in the United States, Easter is a pretty big deal, in Bolivia, it’s the pre-Lent and Lenten season, especially Holy Week (the week prior to Easter) that are particularly meaningful and involved.
Before Lent starts each year there is a GIANT festival in the folklore capital of Bolivia, called Oruro, which is also known for its many mines. This celebration has been going on (transformed over the years of course) for over 2000 years and has been deemed one of the “Masterpieces of Oral Heritage and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” by UNESCO.
According to Wikipidia “the carnival marks the Ito festival for the Uru people. Its ceremonies stem from Andean customs, the ancient invocations centering around Pachamama (Mother Earth, transformed into the Virgin Mary due to Christian syncretism) and Tio Supay (Uncle God of the Mountains, transformed into the Devil). The native Ito ceremonies were stopped in the 17th century by the Spanish, who were ruling the territory of Upper Peru at the time. However, the Uru continued to observe the festival in the form of a Catholic ritual on Candlemas, in the first week of each February. Christian icons were used to conceal portrayals of Andean gods, and the Christian saints represented other Andean minor divinities. The ceremony begins forty days before Easter.” Often a car leads the way for each group, adorned with silver platters and an image of the Virgin Mary.
I decided it was high time I went to experience first-hand this famous and often-talked-about festival, so I left on Friday March 4th for Carnival in Oruro! We were a group of roughly 8 another franciscan missioner, two Franciscans and four other Bolivians. We got the pleasure of receiving wonderful Franciscan hospitality in the church/convent there which is very unlike most people’s very expensive experience of going to Carnival in Oruro.
On Friday we went to visit the Church of the Mineshaft or Sanctuaria del Socavon. They say that in 1789 a mural of the Virgin Mary appeared miraculously in a mineshaft of a silver mine in Oruro and since then the festival of Carnival has been celebrated in honor of the Virgin Mary. Here is the painting of the image of Mary in the church. On Saturday the bishop began the pilgrimage procession followed by TONS of dance groups that kept going until long after I headed for bed around 1am.
I really enjoyed being able to be a part of the Carnival celebration. There is just so much uniqueness, so much joy and pride that people have in their costumes, in their dances and that the observers have in their fellow Bolivians. I loved being amidst the chanting, singing, cheering “Beso! Beso! Beso!” (Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!) at the supposedly most attractive dancers who dance Caporales. The variety and creativity in the costumes is just remarkable. Although, I would NOT want to wear those boots dancing for 4 km!
On Sunday we went back to the Church of the Mineshaft to go down into the mine and also to get a little more observing, taking pictures and dancing in. I hadn’t realized that everyone who dances on Saturday dances the whole route again on Sunday. Impressive!
Two days later is what Americans call “Fat Tuesday” or the day before Lent begins. I got the pleasure of being invited by my friend to her house for a ch’alla, which is an Andean custom still practiced regularly even in the city. It consists of a small fire and an offering basicly blessing mother earth or Pachamama out of respect and thanksgiving for what she gives us, asking also for her blessing in the coming year. Fat Tuesday is a holiday and a day generally spent with family and a ch’alla in one’s home instead of out in public. My friend made the typical spicey sauce by crushing peppers and onions with big stones. I was given coca leaves to chew, a home-made tobacco cigarette and sitting in a circle we chatted and passed each other the chicha, a traditional drink made out of corn. Before drinking the first time we each poured a little of the chicha in a circle counter-clockwise (I think that’s right) around the fire as a gesture of respect for the earth. Before drinking, it’s respectful and expected that you cheers/invite someone else and then once you’re done, you serve them and the ritual continues...
After eating a meal we went back outside and played a game trying to throw coins into a hole from a distance, of course continuing to share chicha while taking turns playing. The game reminded me of horseshoes but on a much smaller (but still challenging) scale. It is hard not to feel united with the group all drinking from the same gourd and continually inviting and sharing with each other the same drink (don’t worry, no one got drunk as it was non-alcoholic chicha). I enjoyed the opportunity to be let in to this family’s ritual and share in the day with them. While Andean in its roots, this is a pre-Lent custom and from my perception I think the Andean and Christian ways mend quite well, as there is a clear recognition of God’s presence all around and an honoring of the divine among us.
I hadn’t quite got enough dancing and celebrating in so I attended Cochabamba’s carnival parade celebration just a few days later. I went with kids from the youth group at San Carlos and it was a good day, but I got TOTALLY soaked with water walking back to my bench in the stands. They asked me if I’d fallen in the river...it was bad. The “Corso de Corsos” as they call it here in Cochabamba is much less organized and slower than the Carnival procession in Oruro, but I still had a good time. There were also less traditional dances and costumes which the military groups presented.
We ended the night going down from the stands into the street and dancing with everyone else, while taking pictures with the dancers. I must say I’ve never celebrated so much before Lent in my life. It’s one of the parts of the Bolivian culture I really enjoy—the dedication to the various traditional dances, music and customs. What a gift to take part in it!
To see more pictures from Oruro, Fat Tuesday and Corso de Corsos, please visit the following links:
https://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/OruroCarnaval?authkey=Gv1sRgCMeZyrvxt939fA# https://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/FatTuesdayChAlla?authkey=Gv1sRgCKWo3ZibgOef6QE# https://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/CorsoDeCorsos2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCNTwxtr6_KamhwE# 5 Things I’m thankful for today: seeing a little toddler carrying her baby doll in a plastic bag substituting for an aguayo (cloth women use to carry their children on their backs) on her back (so cute!); playing hearts and laughing with friends yesterday; the improvement in health of several people I know; my sisters who give me so much joy and love; the kids here at the social center where I live who give me hugs and make me laugh every day.
