Antofagasta's Mini-Tirana

La Tirana is a religious festival held each year in the north of Chile. Literally hundreds of thousands of people travel to a spot in the desert near Iquique to ask favors of and give thanks to Carmen, a manifestation of the Virgen Mary. Each winter Antofagasta hosts its own mini Tirana which takes place over 3 days and is attended by several thousand locals. There are so many groups that it takes about two and a half days to "present" to Carmen and the festivities close with a huge parade on Sunday afternoon.

A dancing area is set up with Carmen at one end. Groups dance thier way towards her with their band bringing up the rear. They perform for a while and then dance thier way back. Generally each group takes about 20 minutes to complete its ceremony.

This happy participant, while not officially in a group, was getting into the spirit of the day. He followed each group in and out. He asked me to take his picture.

The participants wear brightly colored costumes that are unique to each group. Some are distinctly religious in nature or representative of a particular region. However there were many that just seemed to be the personal choice of the participants. You can see every form of costume from polar bears, to sailors, to Argentinian Gauchos, you name it!

Probably the most popular type of costume was that of American Indians. I don't know what the connection is but there had to be at least 15 groups dressed as North American Indians. They were elaborately made including huge head dress for the men and bows and arrows, spears and hachets etc.

El Diablo is a figure common to the north of Chile, Bolivia and the south of Peru who shows up to dance at virtually all cultural occasions. He has a look surprizingly similar to the asiatic dragons. Normally he is accompanied by several female dancers with very short skirts and thigh high boots who dance along behind him. I don't have the significance of this one figured out yet and I will put an explanation here when I understand it.

Some of the dancers are quite atheletic and put on a real show. I caught this group in the air in mid-twirl.

The long arm of the law reaches everywhere. The parade is followed by the Chile Police called Carabineros to maintain public order. It is quite common to see police on horseback, in Antofagasta anyway!