Cusco, the ancient capital of the Tahuantinsuyo, shows its history through its yearly celebrations. So, planning a vacation in Cusco allows you to see a dynamic mix of cultures, where the original Inca practices combine directly with the Catholic traditions introduced by the Spaniards.
Currently, the city of Cusco keeps this cultural mix and adds elements of modern life. This evolution is clearly seen in the Cusco festivals that make up the yearly schedule. Moreover, the official calendar covers a diverse range of events, from Andean winter solstice ceremonies to Holy Week processions or the Cusqueña Beer Festival.
Attending Cusco festivities is a direct and practical way to know the religious and social customs of the region. Regardless of the month chosen for your trip, you will find a scheduled event in the city that will complete your travel itinerary.
Next, we will learn more about Cusco Peru and we detail the most important and representative festivities of this region.
Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and currently works as the main logistical center to explore the Andean region of Peru. Because of its altitude (3,399 masl), it is essential that visitors set aside a time to acclimatize before starting demanding tours on the outskirts.
It is recommended to plan activities with low physical demand during the first two days. This strategy makes it easier to adapt to the altitude, allows you to understand the street layout, and provides the basic historical context of the city.
Taking a tour through the urban area is the suggested first step to get familiar with the infrastructure and local culture. The key points of this urban circuit include:
The region's yearly calendar includes celebrations that join Catholic rituals with Andean customs. These dates mark the social rhythm of the city and allow visitors to directly see the cultural, food, and art habits of local people throughout the year. Below, we will tell you about each of the main Festivities of Cusco:
This patron saint festival takes place every January 20 in the San Sebastián district, south of the historic center of Cusco. The main activities are a central mass and the later procession of the saint's image, which is guarded by various traditional dance groups and music bands.
The organization of the event is the responsibility of the "steward" or butler, a local citizen who takes the financial and logistical responsibility for the festival. During this date, the district streets change to receive the faithful, and food stands are set up to sell typical regional dishes, such as the "cold spicy meal", marking the formal start of the traditional festival cycle in the city.
This festival is known for playing with water, foam, and colored powders in the streets of the city and nearby provinces. The main activity is the "gift tree" or "tree cutting", which consists of planting a tree decorated with gifts, plastics, and clothes. The participants dance around the tree and take turns cutting it with an axe until it falls, at which point those present pick up the objects. During this season, eating the "boiled meal" or stew is the main food custom, a dish made of boiled meat, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, cabbage leaves and chickpeas.
The commemoration of Holy Week in Cusco is different from the rest of the country because its main day is Holy Monday. On this date, the procession of the Lord of the Earthquakes takes place, considered the Sworn Patron of the city; this consists of the image traveling through the Main Square and nearby streets while the faithful throw red "red flower" flowers, a local plant that symbolizes the blood of Christ.
Another representative custom of this week happens on Holy Thursday, a day when local families usually prepare and eat a traditional lunch made of twelve different dishes, strictly excluding red meats.
This celebration is the most attended Catholic event in the city. It consists of the gathering of fifteen images of saints and virgins from different parishes of Cusco. These are carried in a procession on silver and carved wood stands to the Cathedral in the Main Square. The festival lasts for eight main days. During this time, the nearby streets are filled with musicians, dancers, and food stalls dedicated only to selling "cold festive dish", the representative meal of this date made of guinea pig, chicken, jerky, fish roe, seaweed and cheese.
This holiday celebrates the winter solstice and is the recreation of the most important religious ceremony of the ancient Inca calendar. The event is a large-scale theatrical play with hundreds of actors that takes place in three parts of the city: it begins at the Qoricancha temple, continues in the Main Square, and ends with the main ceremony at the Sacsayhuaman archaeological site. There, the rituals of thanks to the Sun god (Inti) are recreated.
This celebration represents one of the largest religious movements in the Andes and happens days before Corpus Christi. It consists of a pilgrimage to the sanctuary located in the Sinakara valley, at the base of the Ausangate mountain, more than 4,600 meters above sea level. Thousands of followers, organized in groups or "nations" that represent their provinces, perform dances without stopping while facing freezing temperatures. The main character of this festival is the "bear-man", who acts as a spiritual guide and is in charge of keeping order during the event.
During the month of July (days 28 and 29), the city celebrates the independence of Peru. The activities focus on civic, school, and military parades that take place in the Main Square and the main avenues of the historic center, changing the regular car traffic of the city.
On the other hand, on December 24, the "Sale of Saints" (a Quechua term that means "sale of saints") is set up. It is a temporary folk art market that takes up almost all the space of the Main Square. In this fair, hundreds of artisans from various Andean communities sell ceramic sculptures, altars, textiles and local plants (moss and grass) used to build traditional Christmas mangers. The most requested and representative figure of this date is the "Child Manuelito", the Andean version of the child Jesus.
Let´s start with the month of may, worldwide known as the month of the mothers, but in Cusco city and its surrounds is the month in which is celebrated the most religious and traditional feast called "Festival of the Crosses" Its name? Cruz Velacuy.
When the Spaniards arrived in Cusco, one of the first Catholic elements used very effectively was the Cross, in the case of the Tawantinsuyo, the crosses were located in various places and sacred sites, which were dwellings or shrines of the Andean gods, Being a symbol of good against evil, it is present everywhere and at all times, permanently deserving spiritual invocation and external celebration on different occasions.
This party originates in the first decades of the 18th century. When at that time it was a relatively humble and/or modest private family holiday without the greatness that it has today. The cross is a symbol of Christianity in the same way for Catholics is the representation of the passion of Jesus Christ, after the Spanish conquest, the cross was one of the elements of struggle and ideological quarrel to evangelize the Americans and also to facilitate to its submission, thus its adoration and its use were obligatory in the new world, the "extirpators of idolatries" (catholic priests) when destroying their Inca sanctuaries (Inca idols) took much care in placing crosses in their place.
Nowadays, Cusco city is a catholic city that celebrate the feast of the crosses every May 2, and if you are lucky of been in Cusco during this day, you will see the traditional worship of the Holy Cross. The celebration of the cross usually has a butler or "carguyoq" the person who voluntarily agreed to organize and pay for most of the expenses for the celebration, who is almost always a person with resources and owner of a house where an altar will be built to the cross.
During the celebration, many traditional dances are performed dances as " Carnaval Cusqueño" or "Mestiza Qoyacha. Let´s see more about this traditional cusquenian dances:
Also you can appreciate this typical dances in different Cusco Festivals as Cusco's Day, Torrechayoq, Qoyllor Rit'y Ritual Feast or Paucartambo Festival.
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