Festivity of the Virgen del Carmen de Paucartambo

Festivity of The Virgen Del Carmen de Paucartambo begins on July 14 at night with the traditional dance rehearsal, on the 15th with the entrance to the party, on the 16th, it is the main day and begins with the celebration of the mass of Aurora.

The mass of Party, the distribution of the Eleven, and finally they make the procession of the Virgin, on the 17th the blessing is given and the guerrillas are made, and the festivity ends on July 18 with the Watatiaycuy and the Oqaricuy and in some cases until 19 with the Walqanche or farewell to the musicians.

The Virgen Del Carmen of Paucartambo is a party celebrated not only with a lot of religiosity but with a fervor that is born from something more than the desire of a people to honor a sacred image of 1.32 in height.

It is that in Paucartambo when homage is paid to Mamacha del Carmen something more than a Catholic rite is celebrated; a collective idea is celebrated that could be called tradition.

In today's increasingly homogeneous world, their reverence for tradition makes the Paucartambinos put aside the daily life of city or peasant to put on the papier-mache masks and light costumes made by their peers and after several hours rehearsal, dance in the manner of your ancestors.

The tradition manifested in the Virgen del Carmen is as complex and at the same time indisputable as the tangled visual and musical narrative created by the twenty dances of Paucartambo; it is a tradition product of the history of the Paucartambino, this festivity is a great Cusco Tour option.

Cusco and Peruvian people; an ancient history in a land of contrasts as inhospitable as it is munificent of survival, adaptation, ingenuity, conquest, miscegenation, strength and celebration.

The dances that can be observed are: Saqra, Qapaq Chuncho, Contradanza, Kachampa, Auqa Chileno, Tarpuy, Challalla Phallchascha, Qollacha, Qapac Negro, Panaderos, among others.

Peculiarities

The festivity of the Virgen del Carmen was declared as Intangible Cultural Heritage or Living Culture by R.D.N Nº 543-2006/INC with declaration date 11/04/2006 by the National Institute of Culture INC

Nowadays

Paucartambo is recognized as folkloric capital of Cusco and Peru. Paucartambo dances are recognized.

Note

This festivity takes place every year in the colonial town of Paucartambo, 3,017 m.s.n.m. 110 Km. and 4 hours from Cusco City.