Living in Peru : your everyday companion

By Pierina Papi

In Peru you can celebrate October 31st in two different ways: as the Americans and many other countries do, or as Peruvians do (or both)! Halloween, as other occidental traditions, is celebrated in Peru like it is in the United States. Kids wear costumes and ask for candy in their neighborhoods. The main difference is that instead of saying “trick or treat” when asking for candy they say “Halloween, Halloween.”

It is recommended to have plenty of candy on this day to give out to the groups of kids who probably will knock on your door.

For adults there is a large range of parties with live music or DJs. At some parties, there also might be a costume contest, so you better choose and prepare an outrageous outfit to win. There are some stores where you can rent a costume, but most of them have already run out by today.

You can also celebrate “El Día de la Canción Criolla” on Oct. 31, the Peruvian "Day of Criolla Music". It started back in 1944, when the Peruvian government announced that on this day a special celebration of “Criolla” music, a Peruvian genre of music, which combines African, Spanish and other influences. The most popular style of musica criolla in Perú is the marinera, which is said to be the national dance of Perú.

Throughout Latin America, the term "criolla" originally referred to the descendants of Spanish settlers, but it subsequently came to designate that which was distinctively local. In the case of Peru, it designates the people and culture of the coastal region (as opposed to the Andean highlands) and of Lima in particular. It was on the coast that the Spaniards that founded their capital, where most of their settlement was concentrated and where their culture took deepest root.

As a work-force they imported black slaves and in the colonial period blacks constituted the single biggest sector of Lima’s population. Out of the intermingling of Hispanic and Afro-Peruvian traditions, there evolved a distinctive criollo culture, one of whose manifestations is the canción criolla.

The latter is essentially dance music, but it was accompanied by lyrics which became popular in their own right and for that reason it is usually referred to as song.

To place it in context, the canción criolla could be described as the Peruvian equivalent of the Argentine tango and the Mexican ranchera, in the sense that all three belong to the same era. It enjoyed its heyday between the mid-1930s to the mid-1970s, but particularly in the 1940s and 1950s.

Star performers such as singers Jesús Vásquez and Lucha Reyes, the group ‘Los Morochucos’, guitarist Oscar Avilés and composer-singer Chabuca Granda were feted as national celebrities.

The canción criolla, in fact, came to be seen as an expression of national identity both by the public and by officialdom.

In order to celebrate this particular day, many bars and discotheques present bands performing traditional Peruvian music. If you have just arrived in Peru and haven’t attended a “peña” yet, maybe this is the time for you to explore Peruvian rhythms while celebrating the day of the “canción Criolla.”

Also, remember that Wednesday, November 1st, is a public holiday.

Please check our Events Calendar for more information on Halloween and canción Criolla parties.

Whether you choose to wear a costume or to dance and sing to Peruvian criolla rhythms, there shouldn't be an excuse to stay home on a day full of activities.

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5 Comments

# alex says :
31 October, 2007 [ 11:43 ]

I remember as a kid, growing up in Peru, "musica criolla" was the background music for most --if not all-- of my family's little gatherings. I learned to sing "Odiame" before i could remember the first paragraph of the National Anthem!!
A have a little collection of Musica Criolla (which for me, includes Afro-Peruvian music and songs as well) that has cheered me up everytime i am home sick and, for any reason, cannot go to Peru and party with my friends.
I am not sure what is the status of Musica Criolla among younger generations in Peru, however, i doubt it is ever gonna go away. There are songs for every ocassion and, particularly for me, they all go well with a good drink in your hand.
Feliz Dia de la Cancion Criolla Everyone!!!

# giovanna says :
21 October, 2008 [ 05:51 ]

I´m from Peru and I feel so proud of the music we have.

# jose miguel says :
24 October, 2008 [ 04:46 ]

# says :
9 November, 2008 [ 12:31 ]

# manolo galvan says :
9 November, 2008 [ 11:15 ]

Hey Guys:

It is only one (Peruvian) TRADITION: el Dia de la Cancion Criolla. Any other, so called tradition, is not Peruvian. We did not celebrate Halloween. This is an American import of the last years( probably since 1990s). is there halloween in the shanty towns, the highland, and so on????

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