Photo of the Day: Masked Sheep’s Head Dancer, Qoyllur Rit’i Pilgrimage 2006
- Masked dancer at Qoyllur Rit’i festival, Peru, 2006
El Fotografo spied this guy at the 2006 pilgrimage. He embodies the fertility cult that underpins the festival’s Catholic traditions, which have been sycretized with older, Andean rituals.
I find this image rather terrifying, for some reason.
We looked again for the Sheep’s Head Dancer this past May but didn’t see hide nor hair of him, as they say.
—Barbara R. Drake
Barbara
I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.
