diablos carnavaleros (argentina) - 49 photos

Photos taken during Carnival in Tilcara and Humahuaca (Northern Argentina) in 2010.

Related series: Carnaval de Humahuaca (Argentina) - Carnaval de Tilcara (Argentina).

Carnival in the Andes mountains is a mix of pre-Columbian pagan rituals and traditional Christian Carnival.

During Carnival, many young men are wearing very colorful Devil costumes covered with mirrors , with a mask hiding their face. Women dancing with a devil will often hold their tail. At the end of Carnival, the are ceremonies to bury the Devils until the next Carnival, when they are unburied again. Those Carnival Devils (Diablos Carnavaleros) are part of an old local pagan ritual.

For more information about the Carnival in northern Argentina, read es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnaval_en_Argentina (in Spanish).