This festival dates from the Incas and is now celebrated by young men attending Ciencias High School. Ciencias is located in Plaza San Francisco. It was something like an "initiation" ceremony in which young men got their first Wara (breechcloth). In order to get the "wara" the young men had to pass different athletic tests and sham battles; after successfully passing all tests they got their citizenship and ability for getting married and going to battle.
The ceremony comes from Inca times and it was usually the young sons of the Incas who took part. It could be interpreted as a young Olympics, for the sons to show their physical strength to one another. |
