RETABLO. ANDEAN FESTIVALS

Festivals of the Andes Year: 1989 Dimensions: Open: 40.5 x 81 x 18.5 cm / Closed: 40.5 x 41 x 18.5 cm The box of this retablo is not triangular; it has an oval upper section with no crown. Its interior depicts scenes of Andean festivals. On the doors, paintings with relief details related to the festivities appear. On the left we can see a woman herding cows in the field and, in the sky, the moon within which Santiago, patron of the universe, appears. Transformed in the Andes into Santiago mataindios, the patron rides his horse over decapitated heads. San Lucas is also shown, emerging from the sea driving his cattle. The right door has an abyss inside which there is a fight between a bull with a condor on top, a puma, and a snake. In the sky, condors fly heading in the direction of Santiago. Between the two doors there is a relationship of opposition, complementary opposites that are also symbolized in the festivities represented in the central part of the retablo. The box has a central scene that frames the axis around which the portrayed festivals revolve. It shows four people in the middle holding in their hands objects and elements that symbolize production, labor, the land, and the festival. Toward the front, a man holds the earth in his hands; to the right, the tools of labor represent work; to the left, a woman with musical instruments represents the festival; and toward the back, a man with both hands raised holds a potato plant and a corn plant, representing the harvest and labor. These criteria or elements play a crucial role in the portrayed festivities: carnival, the water festival with its danzante de tijeras, the festival of the cross, marriage, the sowing, and the zafa casa.