Bolivia closes carnival with offerings to Mother Earth

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian families closed Carnival festivities on Tuesday with offerings to Mother Earth and with exhortations for this year to be one of the good harvests in the Andean nation.

Rosa Ríos poured alcohol into the corners of her candy stall in downtown La Paz, which she decorated with balloons and colored paper. He also prepared an offering to Pachamama or Mother Earth.

“May there be a good economy this year, so that my business will be more successful!” Ríos asked.

Bolivians also decorated their homes, cars or businesses as part of a celebration with Andean roots and anchored mainly in the west of the country.

The carnival festivities began on Saturday with the folkloric entrance —declared a masterpiece of oral heritage by UNESCO—in the town of Oruro, 110 kilometers west of La Paz, in the region of altiplano, when nearly 20,000 dancers and musicians lined the streets of this mining town.

The event attracted around 300,000 national and international visitors, estimated the Minister of Cultures, Sabina Orellana. Experts calculate that the carnival, with public holidays on Mondays and Tuesdays in the country, would generate a movement of more than 20 million dollars.

Monday was the cultural entrance to La Paz, with the dancers – mostly from rural areas – dancing and asking Mother Earth for a year with a better harvest.

The party did not go unnoticed at the Government Palace. President Luis Arce wrote on his Twitter account that this “tradition” allows “to thank the blessings of Mother Earth, surely better days are coming”. He attached a video in which he is seen squirting alcohol and throwing flower petals in his office.