#candalaria

Celebrated in February, Candelaria is a premier event in the calendar of Puno and a justifiably famous show of folkloric music, dance and costuming. The fiesta honors the Virgin of the candles, and it has origins in the Canary Islands. The fiesta in Puno has been named part of the Cultural Heritage of Mankind by the UN.

Ruinas y Candalaria, Yagul, estado de Oaxaca, 1982.

Candaleria, cerca de Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur, 1996.

On February 2nd, El Día de la Candalaria is celebrated throughout Mexico. On this day people dress up their own personal statues of Niño Dios or the “child God,” and bring him to the church to get blessed. Tradition states that each year a new outfit must be purchased for the Niño. I was in Mexico City this year for the festivities and stumbled upon a street market of almost 200 stalls selling the statues and all the various items needed to dress him for his church blessing. There were dozens of clothing options—both modern and traditional, from doctor and footballer to Child of the Doves (seen here) and the Archangel Gabriel. In addition to the outfit, undergarments had to be purchased, as well as assorted accessories: hats, shoes, jewelry, bottles, rattles and toys. If your statue, normally made of plaster, was damaged from the previous year there was an extensive repair section that reeked of toxic airbrush fumes. I walked around the market for hours, immersed in its abundance of sublime visuals and chaotic consumer energy. And if all of this wasn’t enough to put a smile on this gringa’s face, just as I was about to leave, a mariachi band strolled into the center of the market and broke out in rapturous song.