Carnaval, Part 2

Here are the second half of my pictures.  Bolivia is huge on their traditional dances, and it seemed like half the city was dressed up and dancing one of them in the parade.  These are some dancers from La Paz...

These are dancers from Cochabamba.  For some reason, despite the normally modest way people here tend to dress, all of the women in this type of dance wear tiny, tiny skirts.  It's tradition.

This is the Angel Michael, who's part of a dance showing the good angels battling Lucifer and the other bad ones....

This is a creepy bear.  They are the devil's messengers.

These women are part of a dance that recreates what used to be fights to the death between different groups in the northern area of Bolivia (and what, even today, are pretty brutal fights between angry men) up there.

These are the "fighting" men.  They are the oldest and best dancers of the group, so they get to act out the fight...and wear these amazing llama hats.  You can't see them too well in the picture, but they are big stuffed animal llamas on top of hats.  They may have been my favorite part of the parade.

Koa

Although most Bolivians are Christian, there are lots of beliefs and traditions from the indigenous religions that are still popular.  I generally don't see a lot of them in Cochabamba (I think other cities and rural areas practice those things more), but the day before Ash Wednesday, everyone does a good luck ritual/sacrafice to Puchamama (Mother Earth).  This includes my Catholic orphanage.

The first thing you need to do is get charcoal burning...

Then you add a packet of incense to get rid of bad things and bring your house good luck in the next year...

Then you walk around in a circle, pouring a mixture of alcohol and Coca Cola on the ground...

Then you throw confetti on everyone's heads (I'm not sure if this is part of the traditional ceremony or not, but I think it's common). 

Then you light strings of tiny fireworks and throw them on the ground, where they go popping off in all directions.  This is a little risky especially if, like my director's husband, you don't look that carefully at were you throw them and there are 50 girls standing around close by.  (The picture is of a safer round of fireworks, after the girls had moved farther away.)  People light these fireworks in all houses in Cochabamba that day, making the whole city sound a bit like a war zone.  But I guess it's important for bringing luck to your family.