La Paz celebrates Bolivia's largest annual festival of Andean culture

Описание: (26 May 2024)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
La Paz, Bolivia - 25 May 2024
1. Various of performers in downtown avenue during the Jesus of the Great Power festival
STORYLINE:
The city of La Paz held Saturday a new edition of its biggest cultural festival, the Parade of Jesus of the Great Power.

This folkloric and religious festival, declared cultural heritage by UNESCO, is one of the largest and oldest Andean Catholic celebrations.

Some 70,000 dancers paraded through the streets of the center of the Bolivian capital.

The passage of 74 groups of dancers along eight kilometers (4.9 miles) paralyzed a large part of the city and it is estimated that some 300,000 spectators enjoyed the event, which concludes at dawn on Sunday.

The dancers are not all professionals, many are informal traders in the city and the costumes and rehearsals take all year.

The festival has more than a century and originates in ancient religious practices of pre-Columbian peoples who thanked their deities for favors received.

These religious beliefs were mixed with Catholic rites brought by the Spanish, giving rise to a mixture of beliefs that experts call religious syncretism.

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