Overview
During the ritual journeys in La Paz during Alasita, which begin on 24 January and last two or three weeks, participants procure ‘good luck’ miniatures associated with Ekeko, the city’s beneficent god of fertility. The activities begin with the search for and acquisition of the miniatures, followed by their consecration with the different Andean ritualists or their blessing by the Catholic Church. The miniatures acquire a new meaning since the individuals have vested them with faith, allowing their wishes to come true. People also exchange the miniatures to symbolically pay debts. The bearers and practitioners include a broad community of stakeholders, and inhabitants of the city participate irrespective of their social status. The practice promotes social cohesion and intergenerational transmission and improves intra-family relationships. The importance granted to donations and the...
This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.
Community and Authority
- Communities
- Bolivia, Plurinational State of
- Languages
- Not specified in UNESCO dataset
- Cultural territories
- Bolivia, Plurinational State of
- Countries
- Bolivia, Plurinational State of
How the System Works
During the ritual journeys in La Paz during Alasita, which begin on 24 January and last two or three weeks, participants procure ‘good luck’ miniatures associated with Ekeko, the city’s beneficent god of fertility. The activities begin with the search for and acquisition of the miniatures, followed by their consecration with the...
Sources and Evidence
Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.
Field-Level Provenance
- title
- UNESCO DataHub field title_en
- preferredTitle
- UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
- summary
- UNESCO DataHub field description_en
- type
- UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
- countries
- UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
- categories
- ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
- relationships
- UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
- sourceUrl
- UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
- rights
- UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url
Original Source Metadata
Why This Record Is Credible
This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.
Cultural Access
Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.
Relationships
Review and Corrections
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