Colours, costumes, masks: Bolivia’s Carnival goes on despite natural disaster. See pics
Bolivia Oruro Carnival got under way Saturday with stunning costumes and parades, though the mood was dampened by the loss of 17 people killed in flooding and 8,200 families left homeless by heavy rains since November.
Traditional Thinku dancers perform during the Carnival. (AP)
A marching band parades during the Carnival. (AP)
President Evo Morales said climate change had “shown up at Carnival, leaving disasters, with the loss of human lives and of homes.”
Dancers perform the traditional Diablada or Dance of the Devils. (AP)
About 25,000 dancers take part in the pre-Lenten blowout that is Bolivia’s biggest tourist attraction and brings as many as half a million people to the sleepy town.
A mask of a devil is seen at the carnival parade. (Reuters)
A dancer of the Diablada group performs at the carnival parade. (Reuters)
The pageant along the city’s cobblestones is a mixture of Spanish colonial traditions with those of the ancient indigenous Inca and Aymara peoples in a ritual seeking better farming and good health.
An Aymara woman plays the cymbal with a band during the traditional inaugural parade of Oruro's Carnival, declared Unesco World Heritage. (AFP)
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