Carnival in Bolivia: Devils dancing for the virgin

"Pobrecitos! Those poor kids!" exclaimed Roberto, as we huddled under an umbrella, watching the Carnaval parade in Oruro. Dancers in bright blue mini-skirts sloshed along in ankle-deep water, pirouetting on their high heels and smiling bravely. Soggy satin pants clung to the legs of the tall, handsome Capa/es dancers as they high-kicked and stomped. The two dozen tin bells on their boots were barely audible over the downpour.

`They never should have moved the image of the Virgin," Roberto continued. "You know, they just finished the cathedral expansion; a crew of Italian restorers worked all summer, and the Virgin of the Mineshaft was just re-installed in the new part. She is very upset at having been moved, and she has made it rain for Carnaval, the most important event of the year."

As comments like Roberto's prove, even today the townspeople of Oruro, Bolivia, attribute many events, both fortunate and tragic, to acts and opinions of various saints, gods, and spirits. Indeed, legends and myths surrounding many of the same characters predominate in the history of the annual "communal celebration of life" known as Carnaval in Oruro.

Here, as in other places around the world, the end of Carnival marks the beginning of Catholic Lent-but "Lent" is originally from the Middle English word lento meaning "springtime," the season to celebrate the awakening of new life. Held in February or March, Oruro's Carnival takes place during the warm season, after the life-giving rains, when the normally brown altiplano turns bright green. Many people who reside on the windy, barren highlands of Oruro lead a desolate life; understandably, they are especially passionate about staging colorful festivals and wearing glorious costumes. The pleasant weather, water-play, dancing, drinking, and feasting all add to the enjoyment and ambiance of this communal celebration of life.

I was lucky to be with Dan Crowley as he witnessed Carnival in Bolivia, the last on his long list of international Carnivals to savor. I had read Dan's African Myth and Black Reality in Bahian Carava4 where he summed up his fascination with Carnival by noting that

what is most interesting about this festival is how very different it has become in its various contemporary manifestations, while preserving so many elements of the distant past. Carnaval's viability and `meaning' lie in its providing the ultimate change of pace-a chance for the poor to be rich for a few days, the sober drunk, the respectable shocking, the old young, for men to be women, for every repression to find release, a ritual of reversal indeed (1984:15).

An examination of Carnival in Oruro, Bolivia, today shows that the week-long event manifests a subdued form of the "ritual of reversal" found more prominently in other cultures. It offers distraction from the cares and responsibilities of everyday life, and provides the entertainment that everyone involved-dancers, musicians, costume makers and spectators-seeks during the celebration. Thus it has some elements in common with similar festivals worldwide; however, as Dan Crowley was pleased to discover, it also contains distinctive themes, traditions, practices, and symbolism not found elsewhere.

CARNivAL BAcKGRoUND

Carnival dance groups and the roles of Carnival dancers vary distinctly according to the social position of the participants. In Bolivia today, the language a person speaks tells much about his or her position in society. The main languages spoken in the highlands of Bolivia today are the imported Castellano or Spanish and two indigenous languages, Quechua and Aymara. Participants at Carnival in Oruro (and in Bolivian society in general) may be loosely categorized into three groups: 1) the indigenas, 2) the cholos, and 3) the criollos or blancos. Rather than being racial categories, these distinctions are defined on the basis of language, lifestyle (including level of education, occupation, and income), and dress.

The indigenas are rural subsistence farmers who make most of their own clothing in traditional styles and are monolingual Quechua or Aymara-- speakers. Indigenas who dance at Carnival wear fancy versions of everyday clothing and are called "autoctonos." As will be discussed later, they participate in different and separate Carnival roles. The second group, cholos (m.) or cholas (f.), are either mestizo or citified indigenas and they make up the majority of the highland population. Cholos wear manufactured western-influenced dress, live in an urban setting, and are bilingual or trilingual in Spanish and Aymara and/or Quechua. Bilingual Aymara and Spanishspeaking cholos and cholas dominate the Oruro population and they represent a great variety of occupations, levels of education, income and cultural sophistication.

The third group, the criollos or blancos, are well-educated, relatively wealthy people who are often mestizo descendants of Europeans and Bolivians. Criollos may be bilingual Spanish/English speakers. Blancos compose about 20% of Orurenos and usually dance in specific groups recognized as having more prestige than the others. Both the cholo and blanco groups of dancers buy or rent costumes from highly-skilled mask and costume makers living in Oruro and La Paz, who are bilingual Aymara/Spanish speaking cholos and cholas.