In the 19th century, the saltpeter workers located in Tarapacá had the tradition of celebrating the festival of La Tirana every year. After the War of the Pacific, when this territory became part of Chile, a process of Chileanization of the population living in that area was carried out, which included the transmission of values, customs and traditions characteristic of Chilean culture to people who were not of Chilean origin.
The country welcomed the celebration of the La Tirana festival, but made some modifications to add more Chilean elements to the festivity. For example, the date of the celebration was changed from August 6 to July 16, the national day of the Virgen del Carmen, patron saint of Chile.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the most popular dances were the chunchos, morenadas, mascaradas and cuyacas, to later adopt the Chinese dances -which had their origin in the celebration of the Virgin of Andacollo-. The Chinese dances quickly became the main dance of La Tirana, being the only ones that had the honor of taking the Virgin of Carmen to the procession. Later, a variety of dances were added to the celebration, such as gypsy dances, red skin dances, Arab dances and the well-known Diablada de La Tirana.
This is how La Tirana has become the largest religious festival in the north of Chile and one of the most important multicultural celebrations in the country, which due to the health crisis will be celebrated for the second consecutive year through virtual religious ceremonies.
We invite you to see the oldest documentary record of this popular festival made in 1944 in Tantaku, digital repository of the University of Chile.
Source: National Historical Museum
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