Alacitas
The largest Alasitas fair (or Alacita, Alacitas, Alasita; Spanish: Feria de las Alasitas) is an annual month-long cultural event starting on 24 January in La Paz, Bolivia. It honours Ekeko, the Aymara god of abundance, and is noted for the giving of miniature items. Other fiestas and ferias throughout Bolivia incorporate alasitas into religious observances: The Fiesta of the Virgin of Copacabana and the Fiesta of the Virgin of Urkupiña, for example. Origins The indigenous Aymara people observed an event called Chhalasita in the pre-Columbian era, when people prayed for good crops and exchanged basic goods. Over time, it evolved to accommodate elements of Catholicism and Western acquisitiveness. Its name is the Aymara word for "buy me". Arthur Posnansky observed that in the Tiwanaku culture, on dates near 22 December, the population used to worship their deities to ask for good luck, offering miniatures of what they wished to have or achieve. Based on Posnansky's observ ...
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