By Carlos Naranja Flores
(translated by Lalo Calderon)
Visitors to Iquitos during carnival may be shocked when they are soaked with a water balloon, or rubbed with paint-smeared fingers. Such is the Peruvian interpretation of the religious holiday. Celebrated the week before Shrove Tuesday, Carnival is a centuries-old tradition in predominantly Catholic countries. The festivities, imported from Europe and steeped in the various Latin American cultures have evolved accordingly in each region.
The Iquitos version of Carnival begins with a month long water-balloon fight culminating in the local distinction of a dance around the Humisha tree on the final night. Any time as much as a four weeks before Carnival weekend you will see young people in front of their houses tossing buckets of water over passing motocarros. Water wars are a battle of the sexes, with groups of boys typically throwing water at groups of girls and visa versa. Other armaments can include talcum powder, flour, crushed achiote seeds (a natural dye), engine oil, paint and you can never be sure what was in that balloon! Though these activities are officially outlawed, the law is largely ignored.
The Humisha is a tradition that has been handed down for generations, but questions about the origins of Humisha will only solicit blank stares. The story is obscure even to Dr. Gabel Sotil Garcia of the Iquitos office of Education and Culture. “It would be difficult to find out how it started,” Dr. Sotil said. “The only thing we know is that it came with the Borjas, the people who brought the first Carnival traditions to Iquitos in the mid 19th century.” The Borjas were a community of mestizos (a racial mix of Spanish and native blood) who lived in the Sierras far to the west of Iquitos. According to Dr. Sotil, in 1838 two neighboring native tribes, the Huambisas and the Aguarunas, rebelled against the Spanish Jesuit presence there and burned down the town of Borja. The survivors of the attack fled in boats downstream toward Iquitos and arrived in force around two years later. Within two or three decades of the Borja arrival, trade intensified with the upriver mestizo community Chapollas and downriver towns in Colombia and Brazil. The inevitable cultural exchange reinforced and evolved Iquitos’ Catholic (and Carnival) traditions.
Today the Humisha, mysterious traditions and all, is a central part of the celebration. It is a palm tree placed in a pot, fronds looped and tied at the top and hung with gifts. On the last night of the Carnival the people dance around the tree with arms linked, while onlookers douse them with buckets of water and sometimes cane liquor. Finally only the young, unmarried lovers dance, arm in arm, the men taking turns hacking the trunk with an axe. When the tree finally falls, either cut or toppled off balance, the children swarm around the gifts, taking what they can grab. “In the past people hung such things as hens, river turtles, Pijuayu and Ubilla (local produce),” Dr. Sotil said. “But with the current economic problems, people can’t afford these things. Now they hang plastics, containers and toys.”
“The Carnavalon is another tradition that has been sacrificed to time and economic hardship,” Dr. Sotil stated. “The Carnavalon was a man inside a towering costume who called the people to the Plaza de Armas to announce the opening of the festival. He clowned around, told jokes and finally gave strict orders for everybody to have fun.”
So if you are lucky enough to be in Iquitos during Carnival, enjoy the unique festivities and try to avoid getting soaked by someone tossing water at you!
Carnival Programme
Saturday 17th February at 3.00 p.m
Grand carnival parade in downtown Iquitos.
Sunday 18th February at 10.00 a.m..
Contest of the palm trees (humishas). At various locations in the City.
