: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) - Information related to Intangible Cultural Heritage
Other sources of information 
Within UNESCO:
World Heritage in this country
General profile on this country
Collection of National Copyright Laws
Additional resources:
- Date of deposit of instrument: 28-02-2006
- UNESCO Regional Officer for Intangible Heritage: Moreno-Triana, Cesar
- Committee Member: 2006 / 2008
Following information is provided for easy reference, but has no official status. For comments or to update information, please contact the regional officer concerned via ich@unesco.org.
Since November 2008, the Representative List contains 90 elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
- Proclamation 2001: "The Carnival of Oruro"
- Proclamation 2003: "The Andean Cosmovision of the Kallawaya"
Proclamation 2001: "The Carnival of Oruro"
The town of Oruro, situated at an altitude of 3,700 metres in the mountains of western Bolivia and once a pre-Columbian ceremonial site, was an important mining area in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Resettled by the Spanish in 1606, it continued to be a sacred site for the Uru people, who would often travel long distances to perform their rituals, especially for the principal Ito festival. The Spanish banned these ceremonies in the seventeenth century, but they continued under the guise of Christian liturgy: the Andean gods were concealed behind Christian icons and the Andean divinities became the Saints. The Ito festival was transformed into a Christian ritual, celebrated on Candlemas (2 February). The traditional llama llama or diablada in worship of the Uru god Tiw became the main dance at the Carnival of Oruro.
The Carnival, which takes place every year, lasts ten days and gives rise to a panoply of popular arts expressed in masks, textiles and embroidery. The main event in the Carnival is the procession or entrada. During the ceremony, the dancers walk the four kilometres of the processional route and repeat the journey for a full twenty hours without interruption. More than 28,000 dancers and 10,000 musicians organized in about 50 groups take part in the procession which still shows many features dating back to medieval mystery plays.
The decline of traditional mining and agriculture is threatening the Oruro population, as is the desertification of the Andean high plateau, which is leading to massive emigration. Urbanization has given rise to acculturation as well as a growing generation gap. There is also uncontrolled financial exploitation of this Carnival.
Proclamation 2003: "The Andean Cosmovision of the Kallawaya"
© Vice Ministerio de Cultura
The Kallawaya ethnic group, based in the mountainous Bautista Saavedra region north of La Paz, traces its roots to the pre-Inca period. Like many aspects of Andean culture, the Kallawaya’s practices and values have evolved through the fusion of native and Christian religions.
The principal activity of the Kallawaya involves the practice of ancestral medical techniques. The various rites and ceremonies related to these techniques form the basis of their local economy. The Andean Cosmovision of the Kallawaya culture consists of a coherent body of myths, rituals, values and artistic expressions. Widely recognized not only in Bolivia but also in many other South American countries where Kallawaya priest doctors practise, the medical techniques are based on the belief systems of indigenous peoples of the Andean area.
This healing art derives from a deep understanding of animal, mineral and botanical pharmacopoeia and a body of ritual knowledge intimately linked to religious beliefs. The exclusively male itinerant healers treat patients using medical and pharmaceutical knowledge that revolves around a complex system of transmission and apprenticeship in which the journey plays an essential role. By travelling through widely varying ecosystems, Kallawaya healers expand their knowledge of medicinal plants. With some 980 species, their botanical pharmacopoeia rates as one of the richest in the world. Kallawaya women participate in a number of rites, care for pregnant women and children, and weave textiles with motifs and decoration relating to the Kallawaya cosmovision. Musical groups called kantus play the drum and pan flute during ritual ceremonies in order to establish contact with the world of the spirits.
In recent times, the traditional Kallawaya way of life has come under threat from acculturation, which may lead to the disappearance of this extraordinary body of medical knowledge. The tradition is also affected by the lack of sufficient legal protection for indigenous communities, particularly in regard to policies pursued by major pharmaceutical companies.
