How is the New Year celebrated in Peru? New Year traditions in Peru

HOW THE NEW YEAR IS CELEBRATED IN PERU. Peruvians love holidays and diligently celebrate both those that were inherited from Inca times and those that were presented by the conquistadors. A tribute to winter customs in Peru is a real feat, because on Christmas and New Year's Day, the hot summer is in full swing here. Christmas in Peru is a family holiday. Prepared gifts are placed under the tree, but since Peru is a poor country, gifts are usually given only to children. At the same time, if the family allows funds, you can give gifts to anyone you want. On the Peruvian Christmas table, there is always an oven-baked turkey, hot chocolate and panetton - a large cake with raisins and dried fruits. In every house, as well as in the church, cribs are also created in the most prominent place, and for 2 weeks, for each good deed, the children put a piece of llama wool in the still empty cradle, providing the unborn baby with a soft bed. Christmas midnight is considered the time of the birth of Jesus. A doll depicting a baby is placed in the cradle by the eldest woman in the house (mother or grandmother), in honor of Christ they sing Christmas songs and ask that the family does not collapse, that it always has health, love, mutual understanding, respect and prosperity. It is believed that it is the born Jesus who brings gifts to children at Christmas, but recently children are more likely to expect gifts from Santa Claus, i.е. Saint Claus. The New Year differs from Christmas in the observance of special traditions. Here you can often see people walking around the house with suitcases. They need to have time to run around their block before midnight comes. This guarantees a long journey in the new year. Fortunately, the neighborhoods in Peruvian cities are small. However, in addition to borrowed customs, Peru has its own traditions. For example, before the New Year, the indigenous people gather in the streets and sing traditional songs, and everyone tries to sing as loudly as possible. It is believed that songs invite not only the New Year, but also good luck. To celebrate the holiday in all yellow, yellow bouquets and petals in the house will also not hurt, because. yellow also symbolizes good luck. Every Peruvian must eat 13 grapes during the chiming of the clock. The Spaniards have something similar, but the Spaniards eat 12 grapes, and for the Peruvians the most important one is just the thirteenth, it is she who promises good luck. Seeing off the old year, the inhabitants of Peru arrange fights. The meaning of such ritual brawls is comparable to the tradition of throwing away old things on the eve of the New Year. With the help of fights, Peruvians expect to leave bad thoughts, negative emotions in the outgoing year. They hope that they will leave both the fighters and their neighbors. Residents of cities take to the streets before the New Year and beat each other with pleasure. Men, women, teenagers participate in such a cleansing rite. In a word, everyone who is not afraid of beatings. In this situation, the Peruvians are guided by a simple logic: if they themselves beat each other for bad deeds in the past year, then fate will no longer punish them in the coming year. The capital of New Year's fights is the ancient city of Cusco. There is another tradition: on a festive night they burn the “old year” - a stuffed animal, the size of a human being. It is prepared during the day, stuffed with all sorts of junk, from which it is time to get rid of. Small firecrackers are placed in the scarecrow, and the burning becomes a festive firework. At this time, carnivals and processions begin on the streets of the country, accompanied by volleys of salutes and fireworks. By the way, people in Peru are very fond of fireworks, they are arranged for any holiday. There is even a special ministry for salutes, anyone can order it by submitting an application, a doctor's note and a tax receipt. The most noisy and massive events are taking place these days in the capital Lima. It organizes free concerts in the squares, fun fairs are held. Traditional Santa Claus in a red caftan congratulates the people of Peru on the holiday. True, he doesn’t have sleighs and deer, since in the summer tropical heat you don’t really ride on a team. As you can see, the Peruvians do not spare themselves. They try to do as much as possible on New Year's Eve in order to get rid of accumulated problems, warn themselves against possible failures, and make the coming year happier and more successful. For Peruvian youths, New Year's Eve is also dangerous. There is another unusual New Year tradition in this country. Girls at night with willow twigs in their hands go for a walk around the city. Their fiancé is a young man whom the girl will offer to take up her twig. That is why strange couples meet on the streets of Peru on New Year's Eve - a young man with a suitcase, and a girl with a twig.

New Year and Christmas holidays in their native country are always pleasing, but all the points of celebration have long been known - from the arrival of Santa Claus to the traditional words "One, two, three - the Christmas tree is on fire!". You will not surprise our fellow citizens with New Year's events in Egypt and Thailand, the main available excursion destinations in December. Therefore, when it comes to how the New Year is celebrated in other countries, it is always of great interest.

In Latin America, Peru is considered the most colorful country for exotic. It is said that local and Catholic customs harmoniously complement each other here. Don't be surprised, but it is. The conquest of the Inca country by Spain added its own nuances to the culture and local religion. In other words, both representatives of the church and shamans are equally respected in Peru.

On the eve of the New Year, it is considered good manners to ask for forgiveness for old mistakes. If the Slavs turn to God, then in Peru only Mother Earth can solve this issue. She alone can punish and forgive. No less than other nationalities, the Peruvians are concerned about their own fate. Coca leaves can predict fate. True, it is not recommended to engage in prediction yourself - rituals are performed by shamans specially trained for this, to whom the gift of foresight is passed down from generation to generation. Such shamans are called pako.

If among the Slavs fortunetellers receive clients in offices and each of their actions, like a massage therapist, has a price, in Peru the picture is different. Shamans perform various rituals and have no other work to do. Therefore, their labor is paid mainly with natural products - if a shaman comes to someone's home at the request, then the owners are simply obliged to feed him lunch and give him some food home.

Shamans bring special edible figurines with them. You can't buy them in the store - shamans make figurines in advance. All ritual objects symbolize the "sweet life". As a rule, these are a sweet house and a car (for those who want to get their own house or buy a car), a pot with a lid and a bell (a full bowl and a kind of "alarm clock" so as not to be late). Swans and an archangel (symbols of a happy marriage and family protection), sweet flowers and a bible (sweet life and faith in God). Often, shamans can see banknotes of various denominations, made on a xerox - so that money is not transferred in the house.

Do you remember that at the beginning of the article we talked about coca leaves? Dry leaves also come in handy! They are necessary to ensure that the customer is always cheerful and cheerful. The shaman sets fire to incense, dips a couple of cola leaves in wine, and then reads a prayer over the figurines. After that, they are considered prayed. The shaman will bury all the “good” in the ground at midnight so that Mother Earth accepts the gifts and is merciful to the customer. Do wishes come true? It is not customary to brag about this, so as not to lose what you have. Coca leaves help predict fate, which the shaman does until dinner.

If the shaman "helps" to attract prosperity into your life, then you can get rid of your sins on your own. They say that this is akin to throwing old things out of the house before the New Year. If this happens in some countries, then in Peru, according to tradition, negative thoughts and emotions are “thrown out” - fights are organized here. Every year, the inhabitants of Peru at the designated time go out into the street and arrange a "cleansing" ceremony, which consists in the fact that each other needs to knead each other's sides well.

At the event, you can often meet the weaker sex, which accumulates no less sins in a year than the strong half of Peruvian society. As the researchers of this national rite explain, the Peruvians believe that Heaven (Mother Earth) will not punish them a second time if they give themselves a thrashing. True, you need to go to the city of Cusco for this.

And a couple more interesting rituals that you will not find in Moscow and other Russian cities. For example, you can also think of interesting tourist trips on your own by running out into the street shortly before the New Year with a suitcase in your hands. And have time to run at least one block with a suitcase before the battle of the local "chimes". Managed? So everything is ok - you have programmed yourself, in this way, for exciting trips.

In order for good luck not to turn its nose away from you and, on the contrary, to accompany you all year, you need to have time to eat 13 grapes before the clock strikes, since there is no tension with grapes in this country. It is the thirteenth berry that is responsible for success and good luck. Is it possible to put all the grapes in your mouth and chew them at the same time? History is silent on this.

This is not all New Year's ceremonies. Peruvians turned out to be excellent inventors, and they love to arrange various rituals, no worse than in Russia for Christmas. Do they come true? Who will say? Do we all remember what we thought about a year ago?

The standard ideas about South America for most travelers are the Brazilian carnival, the Argentinean tango and the Chilean Tierra del Fuego, which perfectly illustrates human ideas about the end of the world. But on a distant continent where summer comes in winter, there is another country. In recent years, the longed-for gaze of an inquisitive tourist, for whom a real vacation is not only all inclusive and organized excursions to nearby markets, has increasingly turned there. Such travelers storm the Andes in search of clues to the secrets of ancient civilizations, fight their way through the Amazon jungle and learn to cope with altitude sickness, the best cure for which is the magnificent views of the world's highest mountain lake Titicaca. Do you want to celebrate the New Year in, standing at the foot of the stone to which the Incas tied the sun? Take a chance and you will not regret it, because such a scenario will remain the most vivid impression of your travel biography.

Let's take a look at the map

The most important thing to learn about South America from school geography lessons is its latitude. The continent is located almost entirely below the equator, and therefore the New Year in Peru and most other countries comes in the summer.
The climate of Peru is quite diverse and the weather is significantly influenced by the proximity of the ocean, the height of the terrain above sea level and other factors:

In the region popular with tourists, where the main attraction of Peru is located, it is usually quite cold in winter and cool in summer. Machu Picchu and the city are located at an altitude of 2500 - 3400 meters above sea level, and therefore the air there is rarefied and daily temperature fluctuations can reach 20 or more degrees. In December-January, in this area, mercury columns usually rise no higher than + 17 ° C during the day and + 7 ° C at night.
The valley lies in a desert zone and here on New Year's holidays the thermometers may not leave the mark of +30°C and above.
If you plan to visit the Amazon jungle during the New Year holidays, be prepared for high humidity and extreme heat. Thermometers will show less than +28°C.

Meteorologists distinguish two seasons in Peru: rainy from November to mid-April and dry - the rest of the year. However, on the land of the Incas, not everything is so simple, and the level of precipitation differs significantly at one time, but in different regions of the country.

How Peru celebrates the New Year

Most Peruvians are Catholics, and they celebrate Christmas and New Year in the country and are very fond of it. Traditions are observed sacredly, and therefore the New Year tree and Santa Claus are present everywhere and in large numbers. The inhabitants of the country do not forget about the old custom brought to the land of the Incas by the Spaniards. At the moment the clock strikes, everyone eats a grape and makes twelve wishes. All year Peruvians wait for their execution. Popular on New Year's Eve and walks with suitcases in hand. This tradition is considered especially useful for those who have long dreamed of moving and traveling.
However, the indigenous people - the Indians do not trust Western customs too much and prefer their own rituals that attract good luck. Once in South America on New Year's Eve, you can witness an ancient shamanic custom - the worship of Mother Earth. Its main attribute is the “mesada” sacrifice set, which includes sugar figures symbolizing prosperity and a sweet life, a pot with a silver lid that acts as a full bowl, two swans to strengthen marriage, coca leaves as a source of vigor and photocopies of banknotes to attract wealth. The shaman sanctifies all this and at exactly midnight buries it into the ground, bringing wealth to her as a gift. The next stage is fortune-telling on coca leaves, after which the Indian sorcerer announces his verdict, and the New Year is coming in Peru.
If you consider yourself an adherent of conservative European traditions, go celebrate the holiday at. In the capital of the country during the Christmas holidays, fun fairs are held where you can buy the famous Peruvian alpaca wool products. At midnight on December 31, a grand fireworks display is held in the main square of Lima, and a colorful ceremony of worshiping the moon is held in Cusco.

Useful information for the traveler

The main disadvantage of traveling to South America is the duration and cost of transatlantic flights. In order to save on transfers, you can follow the special offers of airlines that often sell air tickets. You will be the first to know all the news and prices if you subscribe to the e-mail newsletter on the websites of the carriers you are interested in. Air France, Lufthansa, KLM and Iberia are most often generous in the South American direction.
You won’t be able to fly directly from Lima, but with connections you can get to the Peruvian capital in several ways:

Delta Air Lines is usually the cheapest airline ticket. With transfers in and you will be in Lima after "only" 20 hours of pure flight. Delta takes off from Sheremetyevo, the cost of a ticket for New Year's dates starts from 1200 euros. The only condition for buying such a ticket is the presence of a visa in the passport. There are no transit areas at United States airports and without a visa you will not be able to board, even if you only plan to make a connection in the United States. This rule applies to all airports.
Prices for a flight from Russia to the Peruvian capital on board Dutch, French and Panamanian airlines start from 1400 euros. Passengers will have to make at least two transfers in each direction, and spend about 19 hours in the sky.

Planning any flight, especially a transatlantic one, is important to start well in advance. The best prices for air tickets can be "caught" 5-7 months before the start of the trip.
Do not forget that most Peruvian attractions are located in the highlands. Unaccustomed to such heights, a European may suffer from altitude sickness, the symptoms of which are dizziness, shortness of breath, breathing problems and severe weakness even with a simple attempt to climb up a few steps. To prevent dangerous symptoms, you should take special preparations in advance and gradually adapt to the heights, leaving the highest mountain objects at the end of the trip. In highlands, you should not celebrate the New Year with alcohol on the table. In Peru, this type of celebration can be hazardous to health.
Don't forget to put sunscreen in your luggage. The rarefied air in the mountains creates little to no protective barrier to ultraviolet radiation and your skin can get burned in a short time.

They strictly honor the traditions and customs that they inherited from their ancient ancestors. Some of them seem quite strange and outlandish to us. For example, running with a suitcase five minutes before the New Year around the block. Peruvians are quite polite and courteous in communication, etiquette is above all for them. Folklore of the Quechua Indians is the hallmark of the country. The culture of the locals was formed under the influence of Indians and Spaniards. This is how the Peruvians live in such a fun and unusual way.

About traditions

Peruvians, according to ancient traditions, honor the most important things for them, inherited from the Incas. This is Inti Raimi - the celebration of the summer solstice, the day of Puno and the festival of Pachamama. In addition to pagan holidays, the traditions of Peru include Catholic and Christian festivities, such as Easter and All Saints' Day. In addition to official and church holidays, according to tradition, many festivals and fiestas are held in Peru. Fiestas usually start in October and end in April. Fiestas are dedicated to a local event in history or to the veneration of the patron saints of a particular area. Also in Peru it is not customary to get drunk.

Traditions of the Indians of Peru

Traditionally, Indian Day is celebrated. On this day, Indians from remote and remote areas march to Cuzco, where they honor the great spirits of the mountains and ask for mercy from a powerful Indian shrine.
In the mountains of the Andes, the customs of predicting the future are still preserved today. In the village of San Pablo, unusual races take place, the priests of three villages compete. The agricultural future of one of the three regions of Peru depends on victory.
Also, the Indians retain customs associated with inter-gender relations and sowing. Abstinence was required before sowing. With the onset of sowing work, peculiar races were organized on the field, the participants of which were completely naked.
According to another tradition, on New Year's Eve in Peru, the Indians perform the Temazcal ceremony, which promotes physical and spiritual purification.

12/17/2011: New Year traditions in Peru

In Peru, there are many different traditions during the celebration of the New Year, which are supposed to bring happiness.

The main color of the New Year in Peru is yellow. Yellow is said to bring good luck and prosperity. In Peru, most souvenirs, flowers, decorations and New Year's costumes are yellow.

At midnight, eat 12 grapes under the table and say the name of the month of the year after each one. Eating every grape, you must mentally discard all the troubles of this month. The thirteenth grape is eaten for good luck in the New Year.

Place three potatoes under a sofa or under a chair. Clean one completely, one half, one whole. At midnight, you need to get one potato. If you get a peeled potato, then the year will be penniless, if half peeled, then the year will be ordinary, and if you get a potato with a peel, then the year will turn out to be prosperous.

Run around the Christmas tree with an empty suitcase or backpack. It is believed that it will bring good luck in travel.

Write five wishes on a piece of paper, dip them into a glass of champagne and drink.

Run around the tree backwards.

Run up and down the stairs.

Throw a handful of lentils on the side of the road.

Throw twelve coins on the side of the road. This means getting rid of poverty last year. It is considered good luck to pick up twelve coins on the street that day.

Distribute rice around the house. This rite attracts money, luck and fertility.

Put a coin in the shoe. It is believed that this attracts money to the person in the new year.

Dip the gold jewelry into a glass of champagne and drink from it.

A man on New Year's Eve should be the first to enter the house from the street. If a woman crosses the threshold first, then the year will be unsuccessful.

Place the beans in the pockets of your guests and relatives and wish them more money in the new year.

Open the front door at midnight to invite the New Year into the house.

Visit shamans in northern Peru who exorcise evil spirits with chamomile infusion, which he sprays a naked man from his mouth.

Take a bath with flowers on the eve of the new year. Each flower symbolizes the fulfillment of certain desires. The rose, for example, symbolizes love relationships.

Dress up a big homemade doll in old clothes and fireworks and set it on fire in the yard. This means getting rid of the problems of the old year.

Light multi-colored candles in the house.

Put on new clothes. Mostly underwear in colors that symbolize your desires for the new year. For example, yellow for good luck and happiness, green for money, red for love, and white for health.