Lima, Peru — Events
Fiesta de la Vendimia de Surco
Peruvians celebrate their grape harvest in fine style at the annual wine festival in Santiago de Surco, south of Lima. Among the local vineyards the craft of winemaking in the old way, from treading grapes by foot, through fermentation and aging processes, are demonstrated. The festival also provides a stage for local performers, a Queen of the Harvest is chosen, and there are various processions, competitions and parties where visitors are avidly taught to dance the Afro-Peruvian festejo.
Independence Day
Peruvians celebrate the anniversary of their independence from Spain with great patriotic gusto throughout the country, but particularly in Lima, where flags fly high and the fun starts the night before the official ceremonies with dancing and folk music filling all the city’s parks and plazas. The next morning at dawn a 21-cannon salute marks the start of ceremonials, which include a military parade downtown and a special service in the Lima Cathedral. For more information phone tourist information service on (01) 574 8000.
Lord of the Miracles
The Lord of the Miracles is the most spectacular of Peru’s thousands of religious festivals. The annual 24-hour procession through Lima honors the venerated image of a black Christ, which was allegedly drawn by an Angolan slave on a wall in colonial times, and has survived all attempts to erase it, including an earthquake in 1746, which levelled all surrounding buildings. The painting, weighing two tons, is carried aloft from the church of Las Nazarenas across Lima to the church of La Merced in Barrios Altos.
