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Takanakuy: Boiling Blood and Healing Wounds in Peru

By Nicolas Villaume

Photographer Nicolas Villaume explores a high Andes ritual that is as much a conflict resolution strategy as a cultural tradition.

This article is adapted from AQ's print issue on transparency and the 2018 elections.

Quechua for "when the blood is boiling," Takanakuy is an annual fighting festival in the remote Andean village of Santo Tomás, in Chumbivilcas, Peru. In this Christmastime tradition, community members settle the year's conflicts – from property disputes to family quarrels – through hand-to-hand combat. The practice is thought to have its origins in the colonial period, and is deeply imbued with code and ritual...

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