Carnaval andino de negros y blancos de San Juan de Pasto o la cultura de la contemplación

Abstract

The Whites and Blacks Andean carnival takes place in San Juan de Pasto, capital of the Departamento de Nariño in Colombia. It is an annual ritual held the 4th, 5th, and 6th of every January. In the carnival, you will find a dilapidation of joy that is expressed through the games, the masks, the parade, the sculptural art of the magnificent floats. The Whites and Blacks Carnival presupposes of an interesting origin, where a mixture of Pre-Hispanic, Hispanic and African cultures make an intermixture of ludic traditions and characterizations. These converging and mix of cultures led to the first carnival organized in the city. This takes us back to the 5th, 6th and 7th of January of the year 1927, where Mrs. Elvira Navarrete was the first Queen of Joy elected and proclaimed as Elvira I.