January 24th (Wednesday) marked the Alasitas Festival in La Paz – the festival of abundance. I went Wed at lunch to check it out and see what there was to see!
The festival celebrates dreams and expectations for abundance in the coming year. It takes place all over the city, and there was one location near my office. The courtyard was overtaken by people with small tables, or on the ground, selling things in miniature. The idea is you buy the things that you would like to have in real life, but in miniature. Each item represents a dream, and if you buy it and have it blessed, it will come true in the following year. There is a God of Abundance, Ekeko. His figurines are adorned with lots of ‘stuff’ and legend has it that he has a cigarette every Friday.
You can buy anything under the sun, in miniature. The most popular is money. You can buy American dollars, euros, and bolivianos all the size of monopoly money or even smaller. You can buy mini-houses, mini-cars, mini-pots of gold. If you want to build something, you can buy mini-shovels and mini bags of cement. If you want to travel you can buy a mini-passport. And if you want job or degree, you can buy a mini-certificate for some profession or other. You can buy mini household supplies (the boxes all come with the actual goods inside, it’s not just an empty box!). You can even buy mini babies.
You can also buy things for other people. If someone you know would like a boyfriend, you buy them a rooster. There are things that symbolize girlfriends, and happy couples as well. People were giving away mini-money all afternoon in the office. You can buy a mini bride and groom and give it to someone who wants to get married.
You can not forget to have your goods blessed (for a few Bs), otherwise it won’t come true. The blessing consists of placing your goods in the smoke of a special fire, and then some wine is thrown on them. Finally flower pedals are placed in the bag with your goods.
It was an interesting sight to see, and I must admit I did buy a few things just for the heck of it.
Mini stuff
Submitted by kevin@haggaret.com on Sat, 2007-01-27 09:23.
So what did you buy? And did you have it blessed?
I'm not sure what I would buy in miniature, I'll have to ponder that for a while...
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I bought ...
Submitted by Meg on Sat, 2007-01-27 11:23.
A mini car, for Dave because he wants to buy a new car this year. And I bought Bolivianos to give away to people (and who am I kidding, I'd like some actual money too!) I also bought a little pin of a man and woman because I liked it. I have no idea what it means! It was all blessed!
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Hmmm.....
Submitted by Katie (not verified) on Tue, 2007-01-30 11:19.
No idea what that little man and woman means eh!! Hmmmmmm ;-)
Sounds like you're having an awesome time and really immersing yourself in the local culture. Take care XX.
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