Tinku Don't put anything here Page Content Don't put anything here Page Name (for URL) Page Title Breadcrumb Text The following is not something we either experienced or even considered on our visit to Potosi, but the description from Lonely Planet seemed so bizarre that I thought I would include a quote: > **Tinku - The Art of Ritual Mayhem** > Native to the northern part of Potosí department, _tinku_ fighting > ranks as one of the few Bolivian traditions that has yet to be > commercialized. This bizarre practice lies deeply rooted in > indigenous tradition and is thus often misunderstood by outsiders, > who can make little sense of the violent and often grisly spectacle. > > _Tinku_ may be best interpreted as a means for _campesinos_ to > forget the hardships of daily life. Festivities begin with singing > and dancing but participants eventually drink themselves into a > stupor. As a result, celebrations may well erupt into drunken > mayhem and sometimes violence. > > ... > > This excessive imbibing inevitably results in social disorder, and > by the second day the drunk participants tend to grow increasingly > aggressive. As they roam the streets, they encounter people from > other communities with whom they may have some quarrel, either real > or imagined. Common complaints include anything from land disputes > to extramarital affairs tot he theft of farm animals and may well > result in a challenge to a fight. > The situation rapidly progresses past yelling and cursing to pushing > and shoving, before it turns into a rather mystical - almost > choreographed - warfare. Seemingly rhythmically, men strike each > other's heads and upper bodies with extended arms... To augment the > hand-to-hand combat, the fighters may also throw rocks at their > opponents, occasionally causing serious injury or death. Any > fatalities, however, are resignedly considered blood offering to > Pachamama in lieu of a llama sacrifice for the same purpose. > > As you would imagine, few foreigners aspire to witness this private > and often violent tradition and many people who have attended insist > that they'd never do it again. I was wondering whether this really exists of whether the Lonely Planet writers just had too much _puro_ on their trip to Potosi. It appears that there are a number of articles on the Internet discussing tinku, including a [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinku). The Wikipedia article, however, is drier than the Lonely Planet description above, and as a result doesn't communicate the same sense of bizarreness. Don't put anything here Advanced Fields Category 2002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014E. AsiaE. EuropeL's FamilyL's FriendsN. AmericaN. EuropeS. AmericaS. AsiaW. EuropeY & LY's FamilyY's Friends Prototype Redirect Permissions0 Actions Config Markup Module HTML/Meta/Keywords HTML/Meta/Description Save Hook HTML Fields Main Head Body Header Menu Logo Page Content Template Sidebar Footer Tags Allowed for XSSFilter HTTP Fields Cache-Control Expires Guru Fields Templates Translations Fields Edit UI Admin Edit UI A summary of your changes Don't put anything here Edit Summary Don't put anything here Don't put anything here save preview cancel
