The altiplano city of Puno, on the banks of the Titicaca Lake (3,870 masl) becomes the folkloric capital of America for 18 days. It gathers more than 200 bands of musicians and dancers to celebrate the Mamacha Candelaria.

The stewards (those in charge of conducting the celebrations) prepare the temple and masses, banquets and fireworks are held during the first nine days. On the main day, February 2, the Virgin is taken throughout the city in a colorful procession, and is followed, in strict hierarchical order, by priests, acolytes, faithful, Christians and pagans; this is the time for the bands of musicians and dancers who dance throughout the city.

The festivity is associated with the pre-hispanic agricultural cycles of sowing and harvesting, as well as the mining activity of the region, and it results from the combination of the respectful aymara cheerfulness and the ancestral quechua seriousness. The dance of the devils or “diablada”, supposedly dreamed by some miners who were caught up in a gallery and in their desperation prayed to the Virgin Candelaria, is the main folkloric group of dancers.

The dancers make offerings to the land (“Pachamama”) playing the zampoñas (reed flute or pipe), dressed up in very colorful disguises, usually wearing masks. The most impressive masks, because of their terrifying effect, are those of deers with twisted long horns associated with the demon, and also the Jacancho or god of minerals. During the cacharpari or farewell, the groups of dancers that fill up the streets finally go to the cemetery to pay homage to their dead.