Virgen de la Candelaria 2027

The Virgen de la Candelaria festival in Puno, held each February, is one of the most spectacular religious and folkloric events in the Americas — a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. For two weeks, over 200 dance groups and 40,000 musicians from communities around Lake Titicaca perform traditional Andean dances in honour of the Virgin. The dances — including Diablada, Morenada, Caporales, Waka-Waka, and dozens of others — are performed in elaborate handcrafted costumes. The night parades and day parades draw hundreds of thousands of visitors to Peru's highland 'folkloric capital.'