Peru Edition
Dia de la Candelaria leads today's complete edition for Peru.
Daily Edition
Official observances, world days, local context, and everyday celebrations for people who need something worth reading, sharing, or talking about today.
The Virgin of Candelaria is venerated across northern Chile, especially in the mining towns where faith is the only thing stronger than the desert. Processions carry her through streets lined with copihues and copper dust. The miners pray to her before every shift and she has never let them down.
The feast of the Virgin of Candelaria is the most important religious festival in Puno (the folkloric capital of Peru), and it is celebrated with the most spectacular dance festival in South America. The festival includes the diablada (the dance of the devils), the morenada (the dance of the black slaves), and the caporales (the dance of the foremen). The dancers wear elaborate costumes (the devil mask can weigh up to 10 kilograms), and the festival is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Virgin of Candelaria is the patron saint of Puno, and the festival is both religious and cultural: the Catholic feast is blended with the Andean cosmology, and the devils are not evil. They are the spirits of the mines, and they are honored with dance, music, and offerings.
You observe various hummingbird species, iguanas, anoles, and the critically endangered Guadeloupe woodpecker in the island's forests. You find that Guadeloupean families typically keep dogs, cats, chickens, and goats as household pets and livestock. ACADA celebrates the world's pets, and helps assure better care.