Here is a compilation of the sights and sounds from the Fiestas de San Pacho in Colombia filmed on September 24.
It is about the Fiestas de San Pacho because in Chocó things are not called by their name but by the things are not called by their name, but as the affection inspires them-, including San Francis of Assisi, adopted as its symbol of religiosity.
An event with 373 years of history, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012, an annual Humanity in 2012, an annual event that no Chocoano wants to miss. It is at this time where relatives who live far away and those who have migrated to other cities meet. those who have migrated to other cities because this is when the people reactivate reactivates its strength and expresses through dances, songs, comparsas and processions their processions their joys, achievements, fears and dreams.
The celebration of the patron saint San Francisco de Asís dates back to October 4, 1648, when a monk from October 4, 1648, when a Franciscan monk inaugurated the temple consecrated to the consecrated to the saint, and to celebrate the event he held a canoe procession procession in canoes along the right side of the Atrato River. For For almost 300 years, the patron saint's festivities were limited only to religious services. religious services, but since 1926 the celebrations have included parades and processions in which parades and comparsas in which all the city's neighborhoods participate to this day. Every year, from September 3 to October 5, the twelve Franciscan neighborhoods of the city of of the city of Quibdó (Colombia) organize the Feast of San Pacho. This celebration of the identity of the community of African origin in the Department of Chocó is deeply rooted. Chocó Department is deeply rooted in the popular religiosity. The San Pancho is the most important symbolic event in the life of the city of Quibdó. Quibdó. It strengthens the identity of the Department of Chocó and fosters the social cohesion of the community, fostering social cohesion of the community, while at the same time fostering creativity and innovation by revitalizing and recreating revitalizing and recreating traditional knowledge and respect for nature.
The festival begins with the solemn Catholic Inaugural Mass celebrated in the cathedral, with the performance of traditional dances to the sound of chirimía music (orchestral genre). chirimía (Chocoan orchestral genre) performed by the San Francisco de Asís Band. Band. This is followed by a carnival parade with costumes, dances and chirimías. Each neighborhood offers a mass in the morning and organizes a parade of floats and carnival groups. floats and carnival groups in the afternoon. On October 3, the image of the Patron Saint the image of the Patron Saint by boat down the waters of the Atrato River, and on October 4, the crowd greets the birth of the the crowds greet the dawn of dawn singing devotional hymns, before participating in the afternoon the afternoon in the Great Procession of the Saint. Local artists and artisans artists and artisans, together with the young people who learn at their side, make the floats, the altars of the neighborhoods, the the altars of the neighborhoods, the costumes and the ornamentation of the streets. In each families in each neighborhood play the role of guardians of tradition and, through the Franciscan Fiestas through the Fundación Fiestas Franciscanas de Quibdó, organize events, preserve the skills and knowledge related to this element of the cultural heritage and keep it alive. cultural heritage and keep it alive.