DESCRIPTION OF A FESTIVAL ESSAY.

The ¨dia de la virgen de itati¨ festival is a celebration that takes place in a tiny town named
¨Tabay¨ in the Corrientes´s province. It was originally initiated in 1956 and it has taken place
ever since. The locals initiated the festival to celebrate the arrival of the Virgen de Itati, the
protector of the town, to the local church. The festival falls the 15th of August every single year
and it´s the most important celebration for the people living in the area.

The preparation begins nine days before the celebration day with the ¨novena¨ that are nine
consecutive days in which people meet at church to pray to the Virgin. The church´s
committee joined with the local autorithies get together to organize the festival which begins
the 15th at midnight. When the clock ticks twelve colorful fireworks are trown, the church bells
sound and the image of the virgin is taken out of the church and carried in caravan in the
police´s truck along all the town. Believers follow the caravan while singing songs to their holly
mother. The next day at eleven o clock there is a coronation, in which the virgin is crowned
with a crown of red roses, after the coronation everybody in town, wheather there are locals
or not are invited to

The ¨Inti Raymi¨ or also called the Sun´s is one the biggest festivals in Peru, is a ceremony
celebrated to honor the god Sun in the INCA culture. It takes place in the city of Cusco, in
Winter, every 24 of June. The settlers communities of the andean countries had maintained
this tradition alive even though the government forbidden it for many years back in the 1500s.
The reason for this celebration´s initiation has to do with an old Inca believe. The Incas in
1430DC used to think that the god Sun reborn every year on this day to start the new annual
circle, something similar to our New Year´s celebration nowadays.

The festival takes place in 3 points of the city: the Qorikancha Temple, the Armas del Cusco
Park and the Sacsayhuaman. The previous days to the celebration, the incas families accustom
to prepare a typical dish elaborated with potatoes named ¨watias¨. They also hang brigh
colored pennants and the flag of the native communities outside their houses. In addition,
they welcome visitor warmly and try to make them feel like they are in home.

During the celebration you can appreciate a theatrical play filled of mysticism and spiritualism,
about 800 actors dressed with peculiar colorful clothes typicals of the incas participate in it.
The men and women dress with clothes made out of materials as llama wool, leather and they
carry extraordinary handcrafted hats on their heads and magnificent enormous golden earings
on their ears. If you go to this festival, you must visit the display of 17 suits that are used in the
play to represent the incas during the Inti Raymi to have a closer look of this awesome
clothing. In the celebration, people dance enthusiastically along the scenarios, jumping and
singing sons in the quechua language, some of them have their faces painted with red, some
other cover their faces with paper masks during the dance.

I personally believe that the celebration of this festival is crucial for the keeping alive the Inca´s
culture. What´s more I find this celebration overloaded with hope and faith in the incoming
circle year. If I ever have the chance to attend to it, I would not doubt for a second.
Cada año alrededor de 35 000 personas se apostan en Sacsayhuamán para ver la
escenificación Alrededor de 750 a 800 actores

Se lo ve danzar en tres tiempos para conectarse con la tierra, el sol y la luna. El personaje lleva
una máscara de colores de dos caras; símbolo de la dualidad. Los cabellos simbolizan la
sabiduría; y la flor del maíz y las cuatro orejas hacen referencia a los puntos cardinales y los
cuatro elementos de la naturaleza

Durante la época de los Incas, el Wawa Inti Raymi fue instituido por el inca Pachacútec en la
década de 1430 d. C., como parte de su reorganización político-administrativa. El raymi del
solsticio de invierno austral (21 de junio) era uno de los dos mayores festivales celebrados en
honor al sol en el Cusco, Perú.2 El otro festival era el Capaq Inti Raymi, (fiesta del gran sol)
celebrado por los Incas en el solsticio de verano austral (21 de diciembre). Según relata el
peruano Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616), el Wawa Inti Raymi significaba que el dios Sol
renacía para dar inicio a un nuevo ciclo anual, el "tiempo circular inca" (debido a que no
concebían el tiempo como lineal sino como un círculo cronológico)[cita requerida] así como el
origen mítico del Inca, quien fue enviado por el Sol (como dios ordenador de las acciones de
las poblaciones del antiguo mundo). Su celebración duraba 15 días, en los cuales había danzas,
ceremonias y sacrificios. El último Wawa Inti Raymi con la presencia del Inca fue realizado a
partir del 21 de junio de 1535.