Fiesta de la Candelaria

What:  Cel­e­brat­ed on the shores of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca the Fies­ta de la Can­de­lar­ia (Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia Feast) marks the end of Christ­mas and hon­ours the Patron saint of Puno, the Vir­gin of Can­de­lar­ia, with a 2 week mix of reli­gious cer­e­monies includ­ing mass­es and cer­e­monies and mod­ern fes­ti­val ele­ments includ­ing street danc­ing, parades, cos­tumes, the bless­ing of cars, food and free-flow­ing beer – with a spe­cial ‘run­ning of the bulls’ event tak­ing place dai­ly on the Boli­vian side of the Lake.

Held some 3,800 metres above sea lev­el – which already leaves par­tic­i­pants breath­less – the car­ni­val kicks off with a bless­ing before turn­ing to a street parade where the a repli­ca of the patron saint who is said to have deliv­ered Jesus to Jerusalem, is parad­ed through the streets accom­pa­nied not only by some 50,000 dances and 10,000 musi­cians but also by inhab­i­tants of the Lake, includ­ing those who emi­grat­ed and return home for the fes­ti­val to make sure that the cul­tur­al and tra­di­tion­al ele­ment of the fes­ti­val is main­tained.

After the ini­tial parade, a series of street danc­ing events break out, which last for 10 days, And you can expect not only dai­ly run­ning of the bull events – but a series of health and safe­ty free fire­crack­er and fire­work events ‑that help cel­e­brate the end of Christ­mas and the Fies­ta de la Can­de­lar­ia with a bang !

When: The fes­ti­val offi­cial­ly lasts for 10 days – with the main day of the Fies­ta de la Can­de­lar­ia being the 2^nd of Feb­ru­ary – how­ev­er you can expect to see dances, fire­works and mass­es tak­ing place at any point in the first two weeks of Feb­ru­ary as the fes­ti­val cel­e­brates the con­clu­sion of Christ­mas.

Where: The fes­ti­val is cel­e­brat­ed all across South Amer­i­ca (Peru, Mex­i­co, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, and Uruguay), but the heart of the action lies in the bor­der towns of Lake Tit­i­ca­ca – Puno, Peru and Copaca­bana, Bolivia – where you can expect to see nev­er end­ing parade’s, bull runs and fire­crack­er and fire­works being released in the streets.

Dura­tion: While the fes­ti­val lasts for almost two weeks, you can find a num­ber of the high­lights at the start of the month, with the fes­ti­val offi­cial­ly kick­ing off on the 1^st of Feb­ru­ary with a day­break mass and an ancient purifi­ca­tion cer­e­mo­ny in the after­noon.

This will then be fol­lowed by the main day – the 2^nd of Feb­ru­ary where ethe pro­ces­sion takes place, includ­ing the lift­ing of the saint of Puno is car­ried through the streets along­side tra­di­tion­al music and danc­ing – this kicks off the wilder side of the fes­ti­val with the releas­ing of the bulls, street danc­ing and as evening breaks – fire­works and crack­ers being set off.

For the fol­low­ing 10 days of the fes­ti­val you can expect parades, fire­works and street danc­ing, all of which take place on a non-set sched­ule begin­ning from around 10am each day.

Tick­ets: There is no charge to attend the Fies­ta de la Can­de­lar­ia or wit­ness the parades, mass­es or danc­ing – although you can expect to pay an increased price for accom­mo­da­tion, food, spe­cialised alco­hol and fire­crack­ers dur­ing the fes­ti­val

Need to Know:  The two bor­der towns or Puno and Copaca­bana are small, so accom­mo­da­tion is like­ly to be lim­it­ed.

 It is also rec­om­mend­ed not to par­tic­i­pate in the run­ning of the bulls fes­ti­val if you’ve been enjoy­ing the free flow beer & mind your­self in the streets as fire­crack­ers are ran­dom­ly set off – and health and safe­ty pro­to­cols are at a min­i­mum.