The Pujllay Festival, Tarabuco

Each March the people of the small town of Tarabuco, about 65 km east of Sucre, host the Pujllay festival, a great celebration with plenty colourful traditional costumes and dance. Pujllay (or Pukllay) means "play" in the Quechua language (the language of the Incas!) and is the name of a traditional festival held in various site in the central Andes. The Bolivian Pujllay is also connected to the Christian Carnival and the celebration of a battle won over the Spaniards - hence the headdress resembling Spanish helmets and "gallu-gallu", rinkling spurs the men, dressed in their colourful "Yampara" costumes, wear in the dance.

There are groups from different villages in the district, carrying banners identifying where they are from and often the "wiphala" (the square Inca rainbow flag) of Qulla Suyu (or Collasuyu); this was the southeastern provincial region of the Inca Empire, which incorporated the Aymara territories that are now part of Bolivia. It is proposed that the Wiphala could function as the dual flag of Bolivia along with the red, yellow, and green banner, confirming the Indian identity of Bolivia.

	Woman of Tarabuco	Pujllay group entering	Pujllay dance	Miskha Mayu group
	Dancers and flutes	Indian flute, Pujllay	Pujllay Festival in Tarabuco	Pujllay flute player
	Dancing with Aymara flag	Pujllay dance with spurs	Drums and flutes	Dance around Pucara pole

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