Christmas dancers in Cusco – in Peru

February 18, 2009 by admin

How would you like to spend Christmas day in Cusco, ancient city of the Incas? Watching a show of colourful dancers in the main square perhaps, lunch on the balcony with the front row view of the performance, finished off by shopping for some souvenirs in the market?

My friend Joanne’s flight had been delayed by bad weather and she was sorry to have missed the fiesta and fireworks on Christmas eve in the main square. Flying into Cusco early on Christmas morning, she settled into her hotel and then wandered out, expecting to find the city half asleep. But just as she arrived in the Plaza de Armas, the Christmas day mass in the Cathedral ended and the congregation burst out intermingled with groups of dancers, accompanied by singing, drumming, whistling and chanting.

Some were dressed with peacock feathers and painted face masks, others like a cross between a bee-keeper and Morris dancer, with straw hats and multicoloured streamers down their backs. The dance troups made their performances for the benefit of the crowds gathered in front of the Cathedral, then danced their way in succession around the square.

The spectacle went on for an hour or more and Joanne was able to get a good view from the balcony of one of the famous cafes which overlook the square. To get to the cafes you go down a little alleyway and up the steps, and it’s pot luck which one to try as it’s impossible to check them out before you get up the stairs. Once she’d enjoyed her lunch with a view, Joanne rounded off the afternoon with some souvenir shopping in the craft market in a nearby square where all the women wear a square of woven cloth carefully balanced on their head in place of a hat.