La Tirana Festival
The La Tirana Festival is a religious celebration in northern Chile, the largest of its kind in the county. Every year for a few days surrounding July 16, more than 200,000 tourists and pilgrims descend upon the small town of less than 1,000 people. The visitors dance, hear music, and pay homage to Virgen del Carmen (Our Lady of Mount Carmel), Chile’s national patron saint.
There is a story that goes along with this festival to explain how it got its name. The story goes that a native princess fell in love with a Portuguese explorer captured by her tribe. Both were condemned to die, but she was baptized as a Christian before their deaths so that the couple could be together in the afterlife. The princess was known to the explorers as La Tirana, or the tyrant, for her resistance to their conquest. A sanctuary was built over their graves, and a small town sprang up — naturally, it was called La Tirana.
La Tirana Festival is now a celebration in the name of Virgen del Carmen, but some traditions stretch back hundreds of years to the indigenous Andean peoples. Music, masks and costumes used at the festival have historical significance. Descendants of these indigenous peoples now travel to the festival to make promises before the saint and receive blessings in return.
At the festival
One of the most important parts of the festival is the diablada, or dance of the devil. Throughout the festival, people wear fearsome costumes and masks and dance to drums and flutes in order to chase away demons. The music and dancing usually last for several days.
Visitors also enjoy foods including sopapillas and shop at booths set up around the festival. Most visitors are from Chile, but people from nearby Bolivia, Peru and Argentina also attend the La Tirana Festival.
Getting to the festival
Most people travel to the coastal city of Iquique before making their way to La Tirana. Iquique is known for its warm climate and Pacific beaches, but it’s an important travel hub for people getting to and from La Tirana during the festival. La Tirana is about 45 miles southeast of Iquique.
Picture by vivaiquique.