Andean Northwest Events

The northwest keeps the most distinctive festival calendar in Argentina, and both of its major observances are Andean rather than European in origin.

Carnival in the Quebrada — February

Nine days, and unlike any other carnival in the country. It opens with the desentierro: a community gathers on a hillside at a mojon, a decorated mound of stones, and digs up a small horned devil figure buried there the previous year. Releasing him releases everyone — the comparsas then dance through the villages for over a week, throwing flour and talc, playing erke and drums, and singing coplas, improvised rhyming verses traded back and forth to a hand drum. It ends with the entierro, burying the devil again along with the year’s excesses, and a period of restraint follows. Tilcara, Humahuaca and Uquia are the places to be, accommodation is scarce, and a visitor who stays clean has misunderstood the arrangement.

Pachamama — 1 August

The whole month is dedicated to the earth, and on the first day families and communities dig a hole, feed it with cooked food, wine, chicha, coca and cigarettes, and ask permission for the year ahead. It is the most important date in the indigenous calendar and is observed in homes rather than staged.

Holy Week and the Virgin of the Rosary — Salta

Salta’s processions in Holy Week and for the Senor y Virgen del Milagro in September draw enormous crowds, the latter marking an earthquake stopped by prayer in 1692.

Wine harvest — February and March, Cafayate

Blessings, tastings and the crowning of a harvest queen.