Arts & Entertainment

Colombia’s Blacks and Whites Carnival fills streets with music, color

Pasto, Colombia, Jan 3 (EFE).- The Carnival of Blacks and Whites began its parades Monday in the Colombian city of Pasto, inaugurating one of the most traditional festivals in the country, which will take place till Monday.

In this parade, in which 16 cultural associations made up of men, women and children participate, choreographies and music from the Andean region are presented with which the dancers, dressed in colorful costumes, transmit their message about Mother Earth.

The parade, which normally takes place on the street, this year takes place at the Libertad Stadium due to restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which last year further limited popular participation in the festivities.

“The main stage of the carnival is the street; we cannot have it, but thank God we have this beautiful stage that we managed to adapt so that people could come,” the manager of Corpocarnaval Andres Jaramillo said.

Jaramillo said each group has about 200 artists who parade, which totals some 3,500 people participating in the event counting the logistics team.

Each association presents a choreography with legends or themes alluding to the Earth that the public present in the stadium, accessed with vaccination controls, applauds standing as the dancers pass.

Among the first to parade were the Amaru cultural foundations, with their choreography “Ensueno de carnaval,” the Musuranakuna, with “New Men,” Zarandearte with “Shiarakatana. Hands that weave our history,” and Raza Libertad with “Siembra. The dance of life, the inseparable ox companion.”

The Carnival of Blacks and Whites, celebrated at the beginning of the year, has been part of the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2009.

The main days of this celebration are Jan. 4, when the “Parade of the Castaneda family” is celebrated, Jan. 5, the “Black Day” and Jan. 6, the “White Day.” EFE

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