YAWAR PARTY - PERU

The Yawar Party represents one of the most solid traditions in southern Peru where forces are measured again through the use of two animals representing each continent. The bull introduced by the Spanish during the conquest of the New World and the sacred and venerated condor since Inca times. Like every year and coinciding with the national holidays of Peru, the Yawar Festival or festival of blood is celebrated in the district of Coyllurqui.

Days before the celebration, community members from the town of Cotabambas set out for the hill with the intention of capturing a condor. To do this, they usually leave the carcass of a llama or a horse for days with the intention that the condor will focus its attention and come down to eat. They then let him calmly satiate himself, so his effort to return to flight becomes clumsy, at which point the community members hiding behind a rock come out and catch him by throwing a blanket or aguayo at him. Later they go to the town, where the condor will be cared for until July 28, when the event is celebrated. On the other side, the bull's skin is pierced by placing some pieces of rope with which the condor's legs will be knotted and it will be impossible for it to free itself. In the middle, the bullring has been filling up with spectators of all ages since it is the social event of the year. There they perform local dances, listen to traditional Andean music and open beers generously. The bullfighters and fans prepare their capes and wait in the middle of the plaza for the presence of the horned bull and the condor. The expectation is maximum and the first capotes begin.

Controversy has always accompanied the celebration of the Yawar Fiesta due to the treatment given to the condor and the bull, especially the former, due to the way in which this enormous bird is captured, its temporary captivity until its confrontation with the bull, which it attacks with pecks and scratches with its sharp claws while trying to free itself from its restraints. Currently the condor is a species categorized as endangered, so the Yawar Fiesta continues to be celebrated but without the physical presence of the condor, becoming a bullfighting spectacle surrounded by folklore and fun.