Public Holiday in Oruro in 2021
This regional holiday takes place in Oruro in Bolivia on the Friday before Ash Wednesday.
The town of Oruro, situated at an altitude of 3,700 metres in the mountains of western Bolivia, is the fifth-largest city in the country.
This is the first day of the Carnival of Oruro, a religious and cultural festival that has been celebrated since the 18th century.
The carnival was originally an indigenous festival. When the Spanish banned pre-colombian ceremonies in the 17th century, the celebration was transformed to incorporate a Christian ritual around the Virgin of Candelaria (Virgin of Socavón).
The main event in the Carnival is the procession or entrada. During the ceremony, the dancers continually walk a four-kilometre route for twenty hours without interruption. More than 28,000 dancers and 10,000 musicians take part in the procession which still shows many features dating back to medieval mystery plays.
The carnival is one of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
