The celebration of Palm Sunday is recognized on a worldwide basis for which is celebrated in different ways. More still, in the different cities of a country, as is the case of Peru, it is celebrated in many ways. One of these symbolic cities is Cajamarca.

The most symbolic city for this celebration is Porcón, a city located to 10 km. of Cajamarca, there the celebration is not only accompanied by branches of palms and olives, but also by enormous assembled banners with mirrors, palms and flowers that measure three meters of height.

It is tradition that the image of the Senor of the Branches walk through the mounted city on a white donkey and travel through the Cajamarca streets.

According to history, in the first celebrations there were only three crosses that walked through the different cities, nevertheless today there is around forty, which are adorned magnificently for the procession.

The meaning of this festivity does not remain in the mere fact of the arrival of Jesus to Jerusalem, but also has immersed the happiness, the friendship and the live encounter of Christian fraternity.

For the settlers, all this means is to prepare the spiritual life of each with prayers and blessings to God.

One of the most valuable representations is that of the Senor of the Branches, which is an image carved in wood, whose legs are moveable and whose hairs and beard are made of human hair.

This is placed on the white donkey, accompanied by diverse tributes of fruits, flowers, bottles of alcohol, among other things, in such a way that the great procession for the triumphant entrance can be initiated.

During all of the celebration of Palm Sunday, are not only observed processions by the different streets, but also the streets are covered in multicolored flowers, dances and songs that accompany the Senor of the Branches during the traveled through to the city of Cajamarca.

Images: Ministeriosccc, Durania, Cajamarca-Sucesos.

Technorati Tags: tourism, tours, places, trips, peru, cajamarca, catholic, faith, palm, sunday.

Corpus Christi, is the celebration where fifteen saints and virgins from different districts in Cusco, come to the Cathedral to visit and greet the body of Christ, which is kept in the Golden Custody. It weighs 26 kg and measures 1.20 m in height.

Each of these districts takes its patron saint in procession and to the beat of a band that plays rhythms danced by the commoners that accompany the Sacred Image, creating a sort of melodic component and a rainbow of colors from each of these towns.

The images reach the Cathedral that is located at the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, with its best ornaments and accoutrements in order to greet the Body of Christ. A mass is celebrated at the entrance to the Cathedral, afterwards, some believers leave the church; while others prefer to remain praying in its interior.

It is the melody that comes out of the Cathedral of the Body of Christ, in a silver carriage, thus initiating the Corpus Christi.

Behind the carriage, all the sacred images brought by the different Cusco towns follow slowly.  In the afternoon, before reentering the Cathedral to rest during the week until the “Eighth of Corpus”, a benediction is imparted to all of the faithful.

Afterwards, all of the faithful return to the celebration, eating dishes typical of these festivities such as chiriuchu -’cold spice’-, a dish made out of guinea pig and hen, and also the vigils is shared with beer, corn liquor and breads, all of these products are made out of maize.

The festivities return to their mysticism at the exit of the Christ and all of the saints on the “Eigth of Corpus” (a week of Corpus Christi), where the dances, such as Mestiza Qoyacha and Capaq Qoya, accompany the procession; furthermore, personages such as chauchos, qollas, pabluchas or ukukus (bear men), symbols of diverse mystical personages, act in a very entertaining manner, making the faithful laugh.

Lastly, the saints and virgins are taken on foot back to their temples, through the various streets of Cusco, to the rhythm of the chanting and prayers of the faithful, who have the certainty that  Apu Jesus Christ will receive them clean and pure of heart and soul, until the following year.

This is a marvelous opportunity for the tourist to learn about the faith and culture of Cusco.

Technorati Tags: tourism, tours, places, trips, peru, cusco, corpus christi, jesus, traditional, celebration.

In the Amazon it is believed that the pink dolphin has super powers, as to change its image to that of an attractive and beautiful man. It is said that these dolphins transformed as men leave for the night from the rivers to seduce some innocent woman, and to return the next morning to the river transformed as dolphin.

Then, the woman became pregnant and once alone, without a husband by her side, she blamed the handsome man that came out of the water of the river.

These dolphins are known in the Amazon as “Charmed Ones”. The Charmed One could be disguised as human desire and take your soul, and take you to the bottom of the river, to the Charm.

The charm is a magical place where the Amazon fuses with a forest, and where the dolphins swim on the top of the trees, which has since been taking place since the beginning of times, according to the legend.

Another version of the leyend tells that if a person makes visual contact with the pink dolphin; is to say, if you look at its eyes and it to yours, the person would have terrible nightmares for its entire life.

Now that, is very strange that the pink dolphin exists, the scientist don’t yet know for certain what it is that gives their skin its color. It must be reminded that the color could vary depending on various factors, such as the water temperature, the age or the physical activity they perform.

The Omacha Foundation has determined, short ago, that the pink color of these dolphins is genetically determined, but the intensity of these colors  is directly related with the physical activity of these dolphins.

We could find these dolphins in the slow currents of some basins, rivers and streams. Besides, they are characterized for being extremely playful, and they consume daily a large quantity of food, like crustaceans, catfish and small river fish, while by nights it likes to hunt the zooplankton; it does not like to eat alone, for which they are always seeking to be accompanied by their group.

You will be able to identify the pink dolphin not only by its color, but also because its fin is a lot smaller than the other dolphins.Remember that you should have greatest care with these animals, because they are found in danger of extinction, and this is not because the settlers are murdering them.

They know that this is not permitted, it is the discharge of chemicals in the rivers, the deforestation and other damages, that are putting an end to the life of these beautiful animals. If you get to see any, be amazed, do not do harm them.

Technorati Tags: tourism, tours, places, trips, peru, amazon, river, leyend, myth, dolphin.

It is told that there was once, in a cusquean community, a man that lived with his daughter, who took charge of grazing the sheep, llamas and other animals. When suddenly, an elegant young man appeared, dress with a black suit, white scarf and black hat. This man visited the little lady every day, with whom he was accustomed to play.

One day they began to play to get up on to the other, taking turns. In one of those times, the young boy raised the girl and suddenly he realized that she was flying; when she realized this, he noticed that the young boy was also fliyng: he had become a condor.

The boy took her in his arms and he carried her to a niche located in a ravine. Thus they passed the days, months and years, until she had a son by him.

The girl could not stop crying, regreting the solitude of her father, who had remained in the community. Until suddenly, a hummingbird appeared, who told her that he could notify her father of her location, so that he could rescue her. She promised the hummingbird all the pretty flowers of the garden of her house, if he manages to help her.

The hummingbird sought the father and communicated the plan for the rescue of the little lady: to take a donkey and two toads to initiate its strategy. While the condor was eating the donkey, the father rescued his daughter and his grandson. The hummingbird then goes to the condor to tell him a misfortune has occurred: “Your woman and your son have become toads”, the condor went quickly to find his woman and son, and only he found two toads. He could not do anything to help the situation.

Since then, the woman, her son, her father and the hummingbird, live happily in the cusquean community.

Technorati Tags: tourism, tours, places, trips, cusco, condor, myth.

The traditional festival is carried out during May or beginning of June created officially in 1780.  It tells the history of Mariano Mayta, a small shepherd who finds in the heights a boy of clear complexion call Manuel (in the Peruvian mountains, Jesus is known as the boy Manuelito).  They become friends in little time and they share work, games and food.

When Mariano returns to his home, he discovers that his flock had grown bigger. As a prize, his father gives him money to buy new clothes in Cuzco. Mariano thinks about Manuel and decides to buy him a change of clothes similar to the one he wore and asks him for a piece of it to use as a sample. Once in Cuzco, they tell Mariano that the cut piece was “fabric of bishop” and a delegation departs with him to verify who the special garment belonged to.

The delegation arrives at the location along with Mariano and they find Manuel shining with his own light, and when they touch he becomes a tree of tayanka in the form of a crucifix. Mariano falls dead in that instant and his body is buried in that same place. From that moment, once a year that pilgrimage to the sanctuary is carried out.

The festivity of Qoyllur Rit’i is a very colorful and picturesque tourist attraction. You can enjoy foods such as the potato pachamancas or “watts” and enjoy traditional dances and costumes as the ukukus and Collas. The festival has prehistoric origins but these were combined with Catholic tradition and today is one of the most important religious festivals in the Andean region it has reached to convene an average of 10 000 people a year.

Blogalaxia Tags: Peru Turism, Festival, Religion, Mysticism, Cuzco, Qoyllur Rit’i.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa ended with the latter’s victory. Within this political context, the Spaniards stepped onto Peruvian lands and with first contact that they had with the natives managed to revive an old Inca legend. In it, the god Wiracocha, a man with a white complexion and a large beard, left by ship towards the north, promising to return when a more powerful Inca would ascend who would govern the world.

Seeing a great similarity in Francisco Pizarro to the man spoken of in the legend, Atahualpa believed that he was the designated one, so he exercised the old Incan custom of erasing from history all negative events that have occurred, including stories and objects. The banners of the ancient Incas, who were preserved by their descendants, ran the same fate.

After the conquest and the subsequent Spanish domination, the natives never remained in silence. In the XVIII century, a descendent of the Incas, Tupac Amaru II, organized a great rebellion that put Spanish domination in the Southern Andes in check. After being placated, it was decided that all customs that would bring to mind the Incan past would be eliminated. This measure stayed in effect until the end of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

After various decades after the Independence of Peru, the millennial customs of our Peruvian past started to be revived, for which it was important to recreate many cultural symbols. This is where the rebirth of the celebrations of the Inti Raymi and others that belong to Peruvian folklore began.

The Cuzco flag was created, as such, in 1978, after a contest organized by a local radio station. This new symbol, that attempts to encompass the rich history of the Empire, was inspired in a wiphala, an Aymara word that means “banner”, which possesses seven colors and has a square shape. Under the tourist influence, the Cuzco flag is no more than a modern symbol that revives our past, but that has no comparable historic substance.

Imagen: Travelpod

Tags Blogalaxia: History, mysticism, Cuzco, Peru

Tourism has spoken a lot about the Urus, creating a myth whereby it is said that they are the descendants of an extinct race that has lost its language – Uroquilla – who live, exiled by the Aymaras, by the shores of the lake and who are the original settlers of the Meseta del Collao.

However, a lot of these affirmations are nothing more than interpretations from diverse colonial documents, which is why the inhabitants were called “Uros”. The Aymaras and the Uros are the same people, but the difference between them occurred when the Spanish mayors started classifying the Indians according to their socio-economic position in order to charge them tribute. They named the poorest fishermen who lived near the lake “Uros” due to the fact that since they had little resources they were not able to pay the taxes that the Aymaras paid and the name stayed.

It is customary to tell foreign tourists certain mystical characteristics about this town. One of its most prominent ones is its dark blood, which is very close to black. This is due to the fact that they possess more quantities of hemoglobin and red corpuscles than other people, which is the body’s natural reaction in order to be able to better distribute the little oxygen found at these altitudes.  As a consequence of this, the skin acquires a brownish-purplish hue which is not the body’s natural pigmentation, since when they travel to the coast, where there is more oxygen, the skin clears up.

There are 200 families that inhabit the nearly 40 floating islands in Lake Titicaca, which have been constructed with totora, a plant that grows on the water’s floor, that serves to build the homes, vessels and even food.  They devote themselves to fishing, agriculture and the exploitation of the myths created around them by selling crafts to the people who come to visit.

Images: Julius Tours, Silentlandscapes.com, Travel Blog

Blogalaxia Tags: Puno, Totora, Uros, Mysticism, Tourism, Titicaca Lake, Peru.