Hola a todos!
This weekend was the anniversary of my site, and there were lots of celebrations going on the entire week. Similarly to the anniversary of the annex that I wrote about a while back, there was a fair, lots of activities happening in the main park, a pageant, and the main event, a pretty famous music group, Hermanos Yaipen, played on the night of the anniversary. Everyone told me the main part would be crazy the night they played and I believed them, but I did not understand the extent. The normally large, spacious park was packed full of people. For some reference, I took a picture of the stage earlier in the day, and then a picture from where I was that night. You can see in the bottom of the picture the stage waaaayyyy off in the distance – I was about halfway back in the park.
Apart from the fiesta, of my favorite events of this anniversary was the municipality dance competition. All of the different groups within the municipality completed against one another doing dances traditional to different regions of Peru.
My group in the municipality danced a traditional dance from the mountains of the Arequipa region called Vicuña Chakuy. This dance represents a tradition that dates back to the Incan Empire but that is still practiced and celebrated to this day. At the beginning of August, the community of Pampa Cañahuas, located in the mountains of Arequipa, prepares for “el Chaku de vicuñas.” I believe this is actually an expression in Quechua, the native language of Peru, that roughly translates to the shearing of the vicuñas. Vicuñas live in the Andes of Peru are the cousin of the llama and alpaca. Many many years ago when the Spaniards invaded Peru, they hunted the vicuñas almost to extinction. The Incas, needing to preserve the species for their livelihood, started the tradition of el Chaku de vicuñas.
When the practice originated, it sought to collect the fur of the vicuña in a way that does not harm the animal to avoid its hunting and possible disappearance. In the process, the vicuñas are slowly herded to one area where they can be sheared and released back into the wild. Only the healthy vicuñas are made to participate in this practice. Those that are young, sick, or old are not herded. Before the event, there is a parade and a celebration, which of course, involves the dance of the Vicuña Chakuy. I’m not exactly sure how my group ended up choosing this dance, but it was fun to learn, so I’m glad they did!
As a side note, I was actually lucky enough to see some vicuñas in the wild a few weeks ago when I visited one of the volunteers that lives in the mountains! I couldn’t get very close – they were pretty shy and ran away when we tried to approach a bit. I can only imagine how hard it is to actually herd these animals.
My group in the municipality attempted to start practicing the dance about 2 weeks before the event, but had quite a hard time finding a dance instructor to teach us. We tried to work with, and ended up firing, three instructors (to be honest, I did not completely understand why), before we found one that was willing and had the time to teach us the dance. We ended up only being able to practice about 6 days for a dance that is 10 minutes long and involves some coordination and storytelling of capturing, shearing, and releasing vicuñas.
We spent time practicing the dance and also making decorations and props to help with the story telling of capturing the vicuñas. We went to the market to buy some materials and to the riverside to get some of the natural-looking materials that we needed for the structures. The group spent several hours working away on the props the weekend before and then one night before our dance practice. We also decked one of the trucks out for the pre-contest parade with colors of the town, a construction hat (representative of the group in the municipality), and a structure in the back to transport the “vicuñas” to the dance contest.
The costume was elaborate and contained about 10 different pieces including 3 skirts, an embroidered blouse, a jacket, llanques (specific kind of sandal), a belt, a purse, a shawl, a hair covering, and a hat. From what I understand, this is pretty typical of dance costumes from the mountains. However, being in the jungle and wearing all of these layers, many of which are made from heavy wool, was hot. But, I think the costume was beautiful and we all looked great!
The schedule for actually practicing the dance was a little hectic due to “la hora Peruana,” lots of last minute schedule changes, and the tight timeline. The first time we ran through the dance with all of the props, the full costume, and the vicuña characters, was the actual performance itself. However, the judges must have found the dance captivating enough because much to everyone’s surprise, we WON!
Of course we had to celebrate, and lucky for us, there was a rock concert happening the same evening as part of the anniversary festivities. Most of the group went out and we spent the night dancing (with our proven superior dance skills) and enjoying the music.
This event has definitely been one of the highlights of my service so far. It was such a fun way to get to know many of my coworkers better and meet more people in the municipality that I haven’t had many interactions with up until this point. Of course taking the cake was a cherry on top as well.
Hasta pronto!
What a fun experience! the costume you wore was lovely! The bleach bottle on the floor in the picture on the right- a nod to your day job? Funny how bleach bottles look alike no matter what country!