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Tinku takes place on specified
holidays, when the members of moieties, both men and women, fight hand-to-hand
with those of the other moiety. In Bolivia, the Tinku is held around the
3rd of May and lasts for a few days. Though the conflict is largely
symbolic and ceremonial, the brawl may inflict real, serious physical
harm that may sometimes be fatal. Status of a specific moiety
is determined by this conflict.
In the Andes,
a tinku is a "ritual battle." These battles can be part of
"festivities or rites of passages and are often sponsored or
supervised by political and/or religious authorities." These are
similar to games, like boxing,
and military training exercises that are done in the United States today.
They are celebratory battles that are controlled, as opposed to warfare,
which is not controlled or celebratory
CARNAVAL
BETANCEÑO & TINKU
The
Carnaval Betanceño belongs to Bolivia´s most famous carnaval rythms.
Actually it is a version of the Huayño, called Huayño Pasacalle whose
letter used to be improvised and sung by the groups playing and dancing
in the streets.
The
village of Betanzos is located at an altitude of 3.250 ms above sea
level around 45 kms from Potosi, once Bolivias most important city
because of its silver mines. This region belongs to the zone most
suitable for the potatoe-production. - There they grow over a hundred
different types of potatoes, which, among other products, are sold on
the big markets on the weekends. A few kilometres from Betanzos one can
also see cave paintings and cuaternary fossiles.
For the
dances of the region of Potosí there exist other tipical costumes:
Women use a long black dress, richly adorned with embroidery, called
Almilla. They also wear an Aguayo, used for carrying everything from
vegetables to children and a shoulder cloth embroidered in vivid colours
with floral motives.
In order to fix their two plaits and unify them, the dancers use an
adornment called Tullmas. Their hats are made of sheep wool and the
unmarried women decorate them with feathers and little mirrors.
Other
garments in use are the chuspitas, little hand woven bags, used for
carrying coca leaves for ceremonies, but also coins or paper money. Men
as well as women use the Chumpi, brightly coloured sashs in order to fix
and embellish dresses and trousers.
The Chulo,
is hand woven cap is only used by men. Apart from daily use in order to
protect themselves against the cold wind they are an object of prestige
and identity showing to everybody which community its user belongs to.
The male
dancers use rough white or black troursers. Their jackets are made of
the same cloth, but usually they are brightly colored and richly adorned
in the front part.
The
Abarca or Ojota called sandals used to be made of leather. However,
nowadays the craftsmen producing them often cut them out of pieces of
tyre.
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