Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LA FIESTA DEL GRAN PODER
The defining cultural and social event of the year in La Paz is undoubtedly
La Fiesta del
Gran Poder
, a dramatic religious fiesta held during late May or early June in homage to a
miraculous image of Christ known as
Nuestro Señor del Gran Poder
(Our Lord of Great
Power). The origins of the Gran Poder are surprisingly recent. It started little over half
a century ago as a local celebration amongst Aymara migrants living and working in the
market district around Avenida Buenos Aires, but since the beginning of the 1980s it has
grown into an enormous festival that has taken over the centre of the city and is enjoyed
by Paceños of all different classes. In part, this expansion has followed the growing wealth
and influence of the Aymara merchants, but it also reflects a growing acceptance of
Ay-
mara culture
and folklore amongst the city's white and mestizo residents.
Tens of thousands of costumed dancers belonging to over a hundred different folkloric
fraternities take part in the
entrada
- the procession that marks the start of the fiesta -
parading through the centre of La Paz to the cacophonous accompaniment of massed brass
bands. The various dances performed during the
entrada
represent different themes from
Aymara folklore and
Catholic traditions
from all over the department of La Paz and fur-
ther afield. The sight of grown adults dressed in outrageous costumes drinking and dancing
their way through the city may seem an odd form of religious devotion, but the participants
and spectators see no contradiction in combining the sincere expression of religious belief
with a riotous party - indeed the act of dancing nonstop for several hours at high altitude
in a heavy costume can be seen as an exhausting form of devotional sacrifice, while the
Señor del Gran Poder would doubtless be disappointed if the celebration of his fiesta were
not accompanied by sufficient revelry.
Brief history
La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de la Paz - “
The City of Our Lady of Peace
” - was founded
on October 20, 1548 on the orders of Pedro de la Gasca, the supreme representative of the
Spanish Emperor in Peru, to commemorate the end of almost ten years of bitter civil war
between rival Spanish factions fighting over the combined territories of Alto and Bajo Peru.
Sited in the Choqueyapu valley, the city developed an economy based on commerce rather
than mining.
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
The merchants of La Paz grew rich through the trade in
coca
from the Yungas to the mines
of Potosí, and the city also prospered as a waystation on the route between the mines and
the coast, and between Lima and Buenos Aires. By 1665 some five hundred Spaniards were
living in La Paz, with a much larger indigenous population housed on the other side of the
fledgling city across the
Río Choqueyapu
. In 1781 an indigenous army led by
Tupac Katari
