Carnaval en Oruro

The Carnaval celebration in Oruro, the most important and elaborate in all of Bolivia, is danced in honor of the Virgin del Sacavon, or the Virgin of the Mining Shaft. The department of Oruro is home to many of Bolivia's most important mines, and the city by the same name has historically been the center of the processing and distribution of mined minerals. Carnaval for the Catholics marks the end of the period between Christmas and the beginning of Lent. In Mideval times, the Church claimed that Carnaval referred to the latin carne-levare, meaning abandon meat. Later arose the meaning now popularly ascribed to, that Carnaval comes from the italian carnevale meaning meat counts, or is okay. At the end of the 20th century, it began to be suspected that the name had pagan roots, from both the Celtics and the Indoeuropeans. Carna is the Celtic god of beans and pork, and Karna is a god from the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana. Some believe that the word carnaval makes reference to an ancient pagan tradition of offering meat to the god Baal (carna-baal). Regardless, it is known to have been a people's festival since Midieval times, full of drinking, dancing, and merrimaking. Hotel rooms in Oruro are next to impossible to find, or charge big bucks for mud holes. My friends Claudia, Nate and I stayed at Claudia's cousin's boyfriend's friend's older brother Rene's place (for real) and the whole group of us had a rockus time.