In this region, he is reverently referred to as the "Hemingway of the Andes" and most anything connected to his name tends to draw tourists.Īn estimated 600 to 1,000 condors remain in Peru, and their numbers are declining. A 1941 novel of the same name by Peruvian author José María Arguedas popularized the term. Back then, the festival was called "Turupucllay," which means "Game of the Bull" in Quechua, an old, native language. The first record of the Yawar Fiesta was a celebration in the city of Cusco in the 18th century, Larrabure said. If there's not a condor, there's no festival." "But here we have these customs, these traditions. "I think that it is crucial, the protection of the condor," said Coyllurqui Mayor Walter Bocangel Gamarra. The village is a nine-hour bus ride away from the city of Cusco on a mountainous dirt road packed with tight turns. There are rumblings in the capital Lima that officials might start enforcing those rules, she added.īut in remote locales like Coyllurqui, it's difficult to enforce existing laws. In the 1970s, the Peruvian government forbid the capture of wild animals, said Cecilia Larrabure, a photojournalist who is working on a documentary concerning the festival. Villagers try to lasso the bull as it fights the condor in Coyllurqui, Peru, last month. Though they predominately identify themselves as Christians, villagers see the condor as an Andean god that has come down from the heavens to fight for their freedom. These Andean people believe the condor is a symbol of the Inca nation, and the bull represents the might of the Spanish conquistadors. The beast then tries to shake off the condor, while the huge bird attempts to gouge out the bull's eyes. But when it's time for the battle, the condor is given alcohol to drink and lashed to the back of a half-ton bull in an arena. To prepare for this annual event, known as the Yawar Fiesta, residents in the small village of Coyllurqui climb into the surrounding cliffs to trap a condor. For conservationists, it is yet another threat to one of the world's largest birds. For many Peruvians, it is a symbolic re-enactment of their liberation from Spanish rule. The Peruvian Blood Festival is a striking spectacle, with a giant condor strapped to the back of an enraged bull in front of a roaring crowd. The event is popular in many parts of the country, but conservationists say this threatens a bird already at risk. In Peru's annual Blood Festival, a condor is tied to the back of a bull and tries to gouge its eyes, while the bull attempts to shake off the giant bird.
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