Feria de la Alasita
Traditions · La Paz, Bolivia
The festival
"Alasita" means "buy me" in Aymara — and it's a wish market. Every January 24th at noon, La Paz opens its large miniature fair: houses, cars, diplomas, tickets and shops in reduced format, which are bought to offer them to the Ekeko, the Andean god of abundance, mustache statuette loaded with goods. Blessed by the yatiris (Andean ritualists) or at the church, miniatures are supposed to become real in the year.
The fair, which was established in 1781 after the siege of Túpac Katari, was established for several weeks at the Urbano Central Park and is spread throughout the country; the Alasita's ritual routes have been part of UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage since 2017.
Good to know
The ritual routes of the Alasita in La Paz have been part of UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage since 2017.