The Carnivals in Arequipa are an important celebration, It includes different activities, in which the presence of water games is inevitable, which in the Arequipa version does not use balloons, but shells. egg with water and aniline (color dye), generally prepared the day before to be thrown at anyone who passes by, along with the graffiti in which one will participate whether they like it or not and the typical exclusive dances of this festivity.
The celebration of the carnival is a movable date, although in general it can be followed according to the schedule of the calendar in the last weeks prior to Ash Wednesday, more specifically between the end of February and the beginning of March, having the first day as the main day. , usually on a Sunday called “Sunday of Carnival”.
In the case of the carnivals that are celebrated in Arequipa, the dance that bears the same name is important: “Carnaval de Arequipa”, a dance dedicated to the god “Momo”. This tradition was adopted from Europe and the dance itself is performed by young people who are still single who travel through the city in the comparsas interpreting their dances. The dance is a ritual in which it symbolizes the struggle to overcome the loving resistance of the opposite sex.
The carnival dances are important because they are part of the resource to confront each other between neighborhoods with the goal of being the neighborhood that shows the greatest hubbub in the celebration.
Among the neighborhoods that still preserve the traditional Arequipa carnival of forty years ago is Cayma, in which the typical parade of the Loncco Caymeño Carnival appears in which the colorful costumes of the participants are observed, along with declamations of coplas and songs that are in charge to share the stories of local traditions. Other traditional customs in towns like Cayma still preserve are found in the weeks prior to the first Sunday of carnival, where the week of the comadres is held and then that of the compadres, in which different festivities are held where the color of the dances was inevitable along with the humor of all the participants and guests who were always well received, ending on Ash Wednesday with the well-known bullfights.
Likewise, as in the different carnivals, it is important to observe in these celebrations contests such as the election of the carnival queen, together with the presentation of different fairs, including gastronomic ones where you can taste typical dishes of the area and of the time, such as the case of “confits”, accompanied by shrimp chupe, stew, chanque or the legendary Arequipeño stuffed rocoto, among others.