Holidays and Festivals in Bolivia

1. Holidays and Festivals in Bolivia

2. Fiesta de la Virgen de la Candelaria • The celebrations in Peru and Bolivia are centered around Lake Titicaca, in Puno and the small village of Copacabana. In Bolivia, the Virgen is also known as the Dark Virgin of the Lake, and the Patroness Of Bolivia. She is revered for a series of miracles, recounted in NuestraSeñora de Copacabana and has another festival on August 5.

3. Fiesta de la Virgen de la Candelaria • There are parades, colorful costumes, music and a lot of drinking and celebrating. New vehicles are brought in from all over Bolivia to be blessed with beer. People gather for days ahead to pray and to celebrate in a mixture of Catholic and native religions. Bolivian celebrants believe the Virgen prefers to stay inside the Basilica erected in her honor. When taken outside, there is a risk of storm or other calamity.

4. El Gran Poder • The festival centers around the devotion to Christ as the second person in the Holy Trinity based on an anonymous painting of the Trinity dating from the early XVII century. The three entities were painted with Indian or mestizo features. Though the Catholic church had forbidden human representations of the Holy Trinity, a young novice named GenovevaCarrión took it with her when she entered the Monasterio de la Purísima Concepción. When the religious order downsized, the painting found its way into different lay hands, finally ending up with PlácidoLópez who lived in the barrio Chijini in la Paz.

5. La Diablada Carnival • One of the most authentic carnivals in South America is La Diablada carnival, which takes place in the city of Oruro, in central Bolivia. The carnival is being celebrated in honor of the Saint patroness of the miners - Virgen de Socavon (the tunnel's virgin). • The carnival is celebrated in a parade of over 50 dance groups that dance, play and sing over a 5 km long course. The groups dress up as demons, Satans, Incas and Spanish conquerors. The parade is celebrated every day from morning until late night (18 hours a day).

6. La Diablada Carnival

7. Dia del Trabajador • If you are traveling in Latin America on the first day of May, you can expect to find banks, government offices, stores, post offices and businesses closed for the day as people celebrate the DíaInternacional Del Trabajo with parades, demonstrations and other symbols of solidarity with the worker. • Venezuela celebrated DíaInternacional del Trabajo for the first time on May 1, 1936. Day of the Worker, or May Day, had already been established in Europe, and would shortly sweep across the Latin American countries.

8. Dia del Trabajador

9. Dia de la Raza • October 12 (or the nearest Monday to it) is traditionally celebrated throughout the Americas as the day Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. In English speaking countries, the day is celebrated as Columbus Day or Native American Day. In Spanish speaking countries and communities, is is known as Día de la Raza, the Day of the Race. • Día de la Raza is the celebration of the Hispanic heritage of Latin America and brings into it all the ethnic and cultural influences making it distinctive.

10. Holidays that Bolivia shares with US! • Christmas Day! • All Saints Day! • Good Friday! • Easter! • New Year!