Cultural Snapshot: Latin American Festivals

09 Sep Cultural Snapshot: Latin American Festivals

Attend a festival in Latin America and you’ll be transported directly into the culture of the place with a front row seat to learn about its traditions during the happy time of celebration. Many of these festivals combine religious and secular beliefs as well as the influences of indigenous, African, and European cultures—all wrapped up into one fascinating party. These are moments when the puzzle of a place comes together, when our ideas and stereotypes are transformed into real knowledge about a region and its people. Here are some of the Latin American festivals on my must-experience list.

Movies in Mexico’s UNESCO-listed Morelia in October

© Morelia International Film Festival

Less than four hours’ drive west of Mexico City, Morelia is a colonial town admired for its UNESCO World Heritage-listed historical center. It is an exquisite combination of Spanish Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical architecture. The town comes to life each year mid-October for the Morelia International Film Festival. The event currently accepts only Mexican films, including documentaries, shorts, and feature-length works, making it an excellent platform to showcase emerging filmmakers from the area. Films of all styles reveal a slice of local culture through portraits of the Mexican zeitgeist. For those with shaky Spanish, the festival has a bilingual commitment, promising to present films that will be understood by both Spanish- and English-speaking audiences. Subtitles are a must.

Featured Adventure: Kingdom of the Monarchs

Guatemala in December: Snakes, Acrobats & Shopping

© OscarEspinosa

The mountain town of Chichicastenango, or ‘Chichi’ as the locals call it, is a destination unto itself for its famous weekly market. Vendors come from all corners peddling everything from colorful textiles and wooden masks to household wares, produce, and livestock. The Festival of Saint Tomás, celebrating Chichi’s patron saint, is officially on December 21, but festivities begin in the week leading up to it. This already lively market gets even more wondrously wild during the festival. It’s a prime example of the fusion of indigenous (specifically, Mayan) and Catholic traditions into one celebration. Sounds of firecrackers and regional music fill the air. Parades include historical storytelling with dancers who wear masks to imitate the Spanish Conquistadors, and Mexicans in enormous sombreros wield lives snakes. I’ve heard rumors, too, of the madcap maneuvers of the valadores, acrobats who spiral down headfirst from 100-foot poles, harnessed only by the ropes tied to their ankles.

Side note: Chichi is an easy daytrip from Lake Atitlan, for those opting for a more peaceful trip peppered with moments of fantastic cultural commotion.

Featured Adventure: Positively Guatemala

Summertime in Colombia for Flowers

© DC_Colombia

Numerous festivals color the streets of Colombia all year long, but I’ve got a particular fascination for those in Medellín, whose reputation has dramatically evolved from cocaine and cartels to more favorable monikers like the city of eternal spring, or the Silicon Valley of Latin America. Now that travel to Colombia is steadily emerging from its turbulent past, Medellín is a must-see. The city’s annual flower fair honors the year-round temperate climate with a nod to springtime, in August. For ten days, starting on the first of the month, balconies, terraces, and gardens overflow with flowers and dozens of events liven up the city. To name one example, the Silleteros Parade has local farmers of neighboring Santa Elena exhibit nearly one hundred varieties of flowers in traditional wooden saddles. Vintage cars and locals on horseback march the streets, and visitors are welcome to ride alongside the 7,000 horses on the 6-mile parade route. Flower lovers will recognize pinocchios, agapanthuses, bridal veil, and more common blooms like sunflowers, gladioli, chrysanthemums, roses, orchids, lilies, and carnations.

Featured Adventure: Flavors of Colombia

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Marguerite Richards

Marguerite Richards is a freelance travel writer who can’t seem to control her curiosity. She sometimes misses out on the physical details of a place because she’s so captivated by the people. She travels to understand cultural differences and the nuances that separate us, with the resolve to render it all palpable through her writing. She has lived for a combined six years in Holland, Chile and France, where total cultural immersion instilled a permanent desire to travel. New York was her longest cultural adventure, where she ran the magazines for the French Government Tourist Office for five years. Now, back in her native California, she’s free to write again full time. But, because she can’t shake her love for business, she also collaborates with travel companies on marketing and social media projects as often as possible. Marguerite holds an MA in French Translation, a BA in English Literature, a Certificate for English teaching, and an honorary business degree from the School of Hard Knocks. margueriterichards.com

Latest posts by Marguerite Richards (see all)

• Cultural Snapshot: Celebrate the Holidays in Africa - December 1, 2014
• Cultural Snapshot: Latin American Festivals - September 9, 2014
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