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Throughout December, the municipality of Timbiquí, on the Pacific coast of the department of Cauca, experiences its carnivals, the name by which the end-of-year festivities are known locally.
The carnivals begin on December 4 with the festival of Santa Bárbara, patron saint of the municipality. The festival is commemorated with the solemn Eucharist, followed by a procession with music, songs and prayers. In this way the festivities are inaugurated, which last until January 6.
One of the central moments of the holidays are the popular “madrugadas”, which take place in the nine days before Christmas.
Each neighborhood of the town is in charge of organizing one of these days, in which they invest all their care to ensure a memorable day for the entire community.
Another of the central events of the December celebrations is the "Matachines Festival", in which characters dressed in masks and armed with whips scare and chase the town's inhabitants in a game that is traditional to this region of the country.
Viche, the region's emblematic liquor, and currulaos and lullabies accompany all the celebrations, strengthening the festive spirit of Timbiquí.
The Timbiquí Carnival is a celebration that highlights the cultural and spiritual richness of the Colombian Pacific, and promotes social cohesion and pride in the ancestral traditions that have endured over the years in this region.
