Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FIESTAS IN TARIJA
Tarijeños are known throughout Bolivia for their love of music, dance and a good party.
Though not as strongly influenced by pre-Christian beliefs as the festivals elsewhere in the
Bolivian Andes, fiestas in Tarija are still deeply rooted in the agricultural cycle, as well as
the calendar of Catholic saints' days. The distinctive Chapaco
folk music
features strongly
atallthefiestas,playedonunusualwoodwindinstruments likethe
erque
and
quenilla
.This
music is accompanied by poetic and often comic folk songs known as
coplas
- usually
sung as duets. The best known of the region's folkloric
dances
is the
chuncho
, in which
dancers wear brightly coloured robes, feathered headdresses and masks in ritual portrayal
of the Chiriguano tribes of the Chaco.
Tarija's
Carnaval
celebrations in February or March are among the most colourful in
Bolivia. On the Thursday before Carnaval, the Dia de Comadres is marked by an exchange
of cakes and gifts, and a parade of all the women in the city. Carnaval itself is celebrated
with a mass parade of folkloric dances and campesinos in elaborate traditional costumes,
and several days of water-fighting, dancing, singing, drinking and eating. The fiesta ends
with the ritual burial of the devil. The end of Carnaval coincides with the
Fiesta de la Uva
(Grape Festival) in La Concepción, 35km south of Tarija, where grape-growers show off
their wares amid further celebrations.
On August 15 Tarijeños celebrate the fiesta of the
Virgen de la Asunción
with a mass
pilgrimage to the village of Chaguaya, 70km south of the city. Tarija's patron saint is
San
Roque
, whose fiesta is celebrated on the first weekend of September with a religious pro-
cession accompanied by troupes of
chuncho
dancers.
Brief history
Tarija was founded on July 4, 1574 as a Spanish frontier outpost on the far southeast edge
of Alto Peru to guard against incursions by the indomitable
Chiriguano
tribes of the Chaco.
The settlement thrived, exporting wine, cattle and grain to the mines of the Altiplano, but
despite its prosperity, Tarija remained on the front line of missionary and military expeditions
against the Chiriguanos - only after the final Chiriguano uprising was crushed in 1892 were
outlying settlements finally freed from the threat of tribal raiders. The greatest moment in
Tarija's history came during the
Independence War
on April 15, 1817, when a combined
forceofArgentinetroopsandChapacoguerrillaridersledbyaone-armedrebelnamedEusta-
quio “Moto” Mendez defeated a Spanish army outside the city at the battle of
La Tablada
.
After this victory Tarija enjoyed eight years of de facto independence before voting to join
the newly proclaimed Republic of Bolivia rather than Argentina in 1825.
Tarijaisfamousforits
wine
production,andthevalley'srichsoilsandfecundclimateattrac-
ted many
Andalucian farmers
during the colonial period. The peasant culture they brought
