Slide Show La reina del tamarugal

Virgin of La Tirana Festivity

La Tirana is a town located in the middle of the Tamarugal pampa (Pampa del Tamarugal) in northern Chile. Each year on July 16th thousands of visitors and believers arrive to celebrate the holiday of La Virgen del Carmen, also known as Virgin of La Tirana.

Believers dance their way through the streets of La Tirana up to the virgin's temple. Musicians, dancers, the entire town and visitors, get a chance to enter the temple to thank, pray, and offer their music and dance to the virgin. At one point during the 7-day celebration, the Virgin of La Tirana is carried out of the temple for everyone to see. This celebration dates back to the conquistadores time and is another vivid sample representing the cultural clash that ocurred when europeans and native people met.

Araucaria is proud to recreate, in a much smaller scale, such festivity: Entrance, procession,diablos, carnaval & cacharpaya.