Location: Canas Province, Cusco Highlights: Annual rebuilding of the last Inca grass bridge using traditional techniques Community participation with offerings to Apus (mountain spirits) UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage event
Location: Sinakara Valley (Cusco), near Ocongate Highlights: One of Peru’s most sacred Andean festivals, blending Inca sun worship (Inti) with Catholicism. Thousands hike to 4,800m to honor the Señor de Qoyllur Rit’i (Christ appearing as a mountain spirit). Dancers in colorful masks (ukukus) perform rituals to bless crops.
Location: Cusco Highlights: 15 saints and virgins paraded from churches to Cusco Cathedral Traditional dishes like chiriuchu (cold spicy platter) Q'apaq Negro dance performances
Location: Amazon regions (especially Iquitos, Pucallpa, Tarapoto) Highlights: Celebrates the Amazonian winter solstice with water purification rituals Traditional dances like the pandilla and humisha (tree cutting ceremony) Feast of juanes (seasoned rice wrapped in bijao leaves)
Location: Cusco (Sacsayhuamán fortress) Highlights: The most important Inca festival, honoring the sun god Inti Spectacular reenactment of ancient Inca rituals with 500+ participants in traditional costumes Includes offerings to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and ceremonial coca leaf readings
This is a solemn and family-oriented holiday. Families gather to remember and honor their deceased loved ones. It is customary to attend mass and visit cemeteries to clean and decorate the graves with flowers, particularly orange marigolds (cempasúchil). A unique tradition is the preparation and consumption of "Lechón" (suckling pig) and "T'anta Wawa" – bread shaped like babies or...
Religious festival that includes masses and processions in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Peru's largest folk art and traditional customs fair is held in Cusco's Plaza de Armas. Artisans from the region exhibit and sell nativity scene figures, especially the famous “Niños Manuelitos,” as well as other handicrafts, ceramics, and paintings. It is the prelude to Christmas in Cusco.
An extraordinary mass pilgrimage deep in the Andes combining Incan glacier worship with Catholic elements (Vera Delgado & Vincent, 2013). Tens of thousands of indigenous dancers (Ukukus) climb to the sacred sanctuary below Mount Ausangate in a deeply spiritual display of faith.
One of Cusco’s most spectacular visual events. Fifteen saints and virgins from different neighborhood parishes are carried in massive, beautifully adorned structural litters to the Cusco Cathedral. The main square fills with music, traditional dances, and food stalls serving Chiriuchu (Cusco's traditional festival dish).
June is Cusco's Jubilee Month. Throughout these two weeks, daily massive folklore parades take over the historic center. School children, university students, and local institutions perform synchronized traditional dances in brilliant regional attire to honor the city.
The absolute highlight of Cusco's calendar. Inti Raymi is the ancient Incan winter solstice ceremony honoring the Sun God. The theatrical re-enactment spans three historic stages: beginning at Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun), moving to the Plaza de Armas, and concluding with a massive main performance at the fortress of Saksaywaman.