The Altiplano's typical Festivities

The celebration of the most popular festivities of San Pedro and the nearby villages have their origins on their religious beliefs and so they are of great importance in the lives of the people that live in the Altiplano. These festivities are the result of a mixture between ancestral rites and the cults brought in by the Spanish especially Christianity and the catholic faith.

Here you have a list of the most important festivities in the area and the dates in which they are traditionally celebrated.

• January
  - Virgen de la Candelaria celebration. It takes place in the Caspana town.
  From January 31st to February 3rd
• February
  - Carnival. Atacameño people and that is also celebrated in many other villages in the II Region.
  From February 05th to February 10th
• May
  - Santa Cruz festivities, it is celebrated in San Pedro de Atacama.
  From May 1st to may 4th
• June
  - Machaqmara, Aymara’s New Year
  June 21st
  - Blooming of livestock. It is celebrated in Atacama’s villages.
  June 24th
  - International Day of native people
  June 24th
  - San Pedro and San Pablo’s festivities: It is one of the most important celebrations in the region, since it remembers the homonymous town’s patron saint and it has a great acclamation. The celebration activities last a week, being the last day June 29th its peak when the patron’s image is walked around the streets of the village. June 29th.
• July
  - San Santiago’s celebration, it is celebrated in the small village of Santiago de Río Grande, one of the traditional centres of the atacameña’s culture.
  Between July 23rd and 26th
• August
  - Pachama. Tribut to the Pachamama. Atacameño people
  August 1st
  - International Day of native people
  August 9th
  - Limpia de Canales Ceremony. It is celebrated in Calama and San Pedro de Atacama
  August - October
• September
  - International Day of Native Women
  September 5th
  - Virgen de Guadalupe festivity, this celebration is the most important in the region El Loa, since this avocation of the virgin is considered the zone’s protector, thousands are the pilgrims that move to Ayquina, a place that during the year doesn’t have any more than 20 to 50 people, but on the eve and during the celebration of the festivity it reaches an amount of over 20 thousand visitors.
  September 8th
• Octuber
  - Limpia de Canales Celebration. It takes place in Calama and in San Pedro de Atacama.
  August – October

*The dates of some of the festivities can vary in some days, since they are determined by the towns year by year.

veronica@sanpedroatacama.com