Karla Gachet

A man lights a candle and says prayers on his way to the top of Cruzco, a mountain that is sacred to people in the region, during La Fiestas de la Santa Cruz (Festival of the Holy Cross). The festival is a petition for rains that is of pre-Columbian origin and takes place annually in early May. As well as offerings ritual fights take place between people wearing jaguar masks (tecuanis). The ancient traditions state that the blood and sweat, from the fighting, that falls to the ground are an offering to the earth. In return the people ask the gods for rain and therefore, the more tecuanis that fight the more rain will fall.