Afro-Peruvians Honor Heritage With Religious Fete
Afro-Peruvians Honor Heritage With Religious Fete
LA QUEBRADA, Peru October 9, 2012 (AP)
Every year, Peruvians descended from African slaves come to La Quebrada to celebrate an adored black saint.
The devotees join in a procession for Santa Efigenia, enthusiastically singing Afro-Peruvian songs interspersed with solemn Roman Catholic hymns as they walk the dusty streets of this Pacific coastal town 85 miles (138 kilometers) south of Lima.
Standing next to the bier holding a statue of the only African saint venerated in Peru, a young boy recites verses about the arrival of slaves rom "Angola, Mozambique and Timbuktu" to work in the region's sugar cane fields.
Girls in bright traditional dresses from a group called "La Carimba," for the brand burned by a hot iron on the skin of slaves, dance to a beat produced by the jawbone of a donkey on a wooden box.
More:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afro-peruvians-honor-heritage-religious-fete-17435249
[center]De Cajon Afro-Peruvian Music Part 1
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Afro Peruvian dance and music: Mamauca
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Kambalache Negro performs Festejo el Ritmo
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