The New Year is a big event in Peru and worldwide.
This celebration in Peru is accompanied by different additions of folklore and local culture. It is undoubtedly an experience that varies from city to city, here are some ideas of what to visit and what to do this New Year in Peru.
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While it is true that this is a multidiverse country with varied options in terms of destinations to spend New Year's Eve, in Peru you will have the option to choose whether you want to spend this date in the warm Amazonian lands, or the hot coastal beaches.
Cusco is characterized for being a city with a lot of history, tradition, and spending the New Year would not be the exception following some of its popular customs. On the eve of the new year many national, international and local tourists gather in the Plaza de Armas to wait for this day.
The fact of just stepping on Cusco soil is already magical, imagine spending a new year that gives you a positive energy, so some people buy tickets to spend in Machu Picchu, Sacsayhuaman or some other destination that recharges you and are ideal to spend the best new year.
The capital city has many attractions to spend the best new year, you can visit from restaurants, concerts, bars or just go to the boardwalk and watch the fireworks for new year's. However, these are not the only options you have, you can visit the different tourist attractions to receive the best new year recharging with good energy. However, these are not the only options you have, you can visit the different tourist attractions to receive the best new year recharging yourself with good energy.
As we know being in Peru is like being in a spiritual place, because all the tourist attractions always recharge you positively and many people go to these places to receive the new year.
If you love the sunsets and sunrises that nature offers us, then spending the new year on the beaches of Mancora will be the best way to welcome the new year. Many will spend the new year in their homes, discos and more, but what you do not know is that many tourists receive January 1st on the shores of the beaches with full music, a good ceviche and all the energy for this new beginning.
Iquitos is another of the best options to receive the new year, if you are looking for a year full of mysticism, spirituality then go into its trees, animals, try exotic drinks are some of the options you can do to wait for this new year.
The "white city" is one of the favorite destinations to welcome the new year, especially for those who love its culture and nature and would like to be away from all the hustle and bustle that is generated in the city itself.
Spending the new year in the Colca Canyon, becomes something magical and a good year ahead, visit the Ruta del Sillar, Santa Catalina Monastery, receive mass in the Cathedral Basilica of Arequipa, go to the Mirador de Yanahuara and witness the new year with the fireworks party.
Ica, the ideal destination to spend the new year around its warm sand, the refreshing water; the coast is another favorite place for those who love the heat and what better to receive the new year with the best liquors (pisco, wine), gastronomy (Ceviche), practicing adventure sports such as kayaking, rafting, cycling a way to receive and at the same time to enjoy the new year.
La Libertad is located in the north of Peru, this magical place has the best places to visit and receive the new year, you can go to the warm beaches of the north and do adventure sports or visit the Archaeological Complex of Chan Chan, C. A El brujo, the Moche countryside among others that will recharge you with energy.
You can visit them in a group, with your family, friends or partner.
Visit Peru in this special dates become special, because you will find better things, for example visit Punta Sal one of the most visited beaches of the Peruvian territory by both domestic and foreign tourists will be the best place to receive this new year.
Here you can enjoy the great fireworks show, local cuisine and other activities prepared for this special day.
This time we go to the south of the country and visit Lake Titicaca, this destination is magical; being on the shore of the lake you will feel the connection with Mama Cocha, you can visit the floating islands that inhabit the Titicaca.
But that's not all, you will be able to go for a ride on the reed rafts, do experiential tourism on this special day with the inhabitants of Taquile Island, you will share all their customs to receive this new year by performing some rituals of the people.
Visiting Huacho is one of the best options in this new year, as it has the best beaches in Lima to visit and what better to do it this new year, in which many tourists love to celebrate a new year of new goals, objectives.
In this case you can visit the beaches of Huacho that are only three hours from the capital city as El Paraíso, Hornillos, El Colorado, Chica, Tartacay, Tambo de Mora sites where you can see the wonderful sunrise of a new year.
Arequipa has the best tourist destination to spend the new year, if you want to be away from the noise or the party of the city, then you should come to spend the new cycle to the Colca Canyon that gives you its pure air, mysticism and positive energy.
However, you can be part of some of the festivities that the city of Arequipa celebrates for the great new year.
It is one of the oldest cabals, because at that time they used to give or eat lentils because it was believed that they were similar to the Roman currency and brought wealth, fortune. This custom is still practiced and shared from generation to generation.
Like other cabals, cleaning the house before the new year is also done in order to eliminate all that negative energy that has accumulated throughout the year. The correct way to do it is to sweep from the inside out, never from the outside in because you would be carrying the bad vibes or energies from the outside.
Just for this special day people usually wear colorful underwear, because according to the cabals wearing yellow underwear is for those people who want to increase their income, you can also attract success in your plans.
Wearing red underwear is more directed to look for love or consolidate it if you have a partner, it is also very used in this special day.
Wearing green underwear is more for us to be calm, protection, hope throughout the year. These are the main and most demanded colors that people use on this day, for many this cabala has worked and ensure that they had a good year.
Una costumbre que se adoptó del país francés, en el que cuentan que en ese entonces la cosecha de uva era demasiada que no sabían qué hacer con tanta uva, hasta que tuvieron el ingenio de repartir las uvas como uvas de la suerte para ser consumida en año nuevo, los de la élite lo consumían junto a su champán.
A custom adopted from the French countryside, where it is said that in those days the grape harvest was so great that people did not know what to do with all the grapes until they had the ingenuity to distribute them as lucky grapes to be consumed by the elite with their champagne in the New Year.
This is how today people continue to eat 12 grapes, one grape and one wish for each month.
This custom has been adopted since ancient times, when the indigenous people made dolls representing the conquering Spaniards with blue or green eyes and burned them. The custom indicates that each doll must have a will or a writing.
In this will be all the bad that has lived that person in the past months and as I would like to be this new year that begins, usually this custom has stuck a lot in Peru, as many often make dolls of corrupt authorities or some character that had more impact during the year.
With this they intend to burn all the bad actions of that person and that this new year is of new things, projects and ends with all the bad things of those people.
In the beginning, fireworks were used to scare evil spirits, but over time they have been used for important festivals because of their colors, the joy they spread and more.
The incense, mistura is used to cleanse and wait for the new year with all the energies pruned.
Cusco desde ya es un lugar mágico, cuando es año nuevo vienen turistas y locales a reunirse en este maravilloso lugar para hacer el recuento del nuevo año, reciben el año nuevo con mucha alegría y fiestas.
Pero eso no es todo, aquí también suelen hacer algunas cábalas como por ejemplo, si quieren viajar a algún sitio entonces dan tres vueltas a la Plaza Mayor, llevan ropa amarilla para esperar el año nuevo y por último todos los que están en la plaza hacen un recuento de los segundos antes de que empiece ese nuevo año y lo esperan con mucha felicidad y prosperidad.
This is another of the most practiced cabals by those who have the goal of going on a trip. The cabala is to go out with the suitcases and give you about 3 laps around your block and thus fulfills that tradition and many found this ritual.
The weather on the Peruvian coast during the month of December and January is generally quite pleasant, it is summer on the coasts of Peru, so many choose to spend New Year's Eve on the beaches, seaside resorts and boardwalks in cities like Lima, spend New Year's Eve in Piura or Ica. The Peruvian coasts are one of the alternatives that you will have in this country.
Spending New Year's Eve in Lima is an experience of fun and celebration in a big way, starting with being part of the spectacle of lights and concerts that take place in Lima's main square.
Likewise, many families choose to spend New Year's Eve at the Malecón de Miraflores, together with friends and family. Waiting for midnight, with a beautiful view of the sea.
The Fair of Wishes is an extra alternative to spend New Year's Eve in Lima, since in this fair you will be able to find cabals and amulets to attract what you want in the following year, from cars, houses, university degrees, to babies.
Piura is a city located in northern Peru, with a pleasant summer climate, so the beaches of Piura are the most popular destinations at this time of the year.
Mancora, is the most known and requested beach resort in Peru. It is the ideal destination to spend New Year's Eve in Piura, with multiple hotels near the sea, you can spend the night with bonfires while enjoying the fireworks.
Spending New Year's Eve in Ica also means spending it surrounded by warm beaches, the vineyards offer wine tasting activities and exquisite dinners.
You can also choose to visit Huacachina, you will find multiple options of hotels and restaurants in the surroundings of the Oasis,
The beaches of Paracas are also another option to spend New Year's Eve in Ica, enjoying bonfires, serenades and the spectacle of lights and fireworks.
In the Andean world, the celebration of the new year is given on a different date, however during the last night of the year, different rituals are also performed, such as flowering baths, cleanings of guinea pigs, purchase of "alasitas" or amulets, and many more traditions that are inherent to the Andean people, many of these traditions have their origin in customs even Incas, so if you want to experience the holidays in a mystical way, in connection with the energies and Andean spirituality, certainly spend the new year in the Sierra of Peru is your best choice.
In the imperial city, Christmas is celebrated with a more traditional spirit, closely linked to ancestral customs. Ceremonies of thanksgiving to the earth and flower baths are performed to attract abundance and good luck in the coming year.
The Plaza de Armas is the point of greatest concentration of people, all gathered waiting for the chimes of the cathedral that announce the beginning of a new year, moment in which everyone, whether they know or not, hold hands and run counterclockwise, this as a cabala to be able to make all the trips you want.
On January 1st, many people choose to visit Machu Picchu or Saqsayhuaman, as they are considered sacred places and of great importance in the Andean cosmovision, everyone goes to these places to renew energies in the sacred Wakas. Remember that you can take some coca leaves voluntarily, this as a sign of gratitude to the earth and leave the leaves in the Wakas.
While it is true that in the Andean world the new year is celebrated in an entirely different way every June 21.
However, December 31 is also celebrated in style.
As part of the New Year's traditions in Puno, is to give an ''ekeko'', an amulet that symbolizes abundance, so that in the coming year nothing will be lacking.
You will find multiple gifts, amulets, lucky and ''alasitas'', in the artisan fairs of Puno.
Something to keep in mind is that you can find houses, cars, businesses, work tools, property titles, university degrees, marriage certificates, everything you can imagine, in miniature versions, and at the moment you choose your amulet, the Andean priests bless your ''alasita'' through a small ritual to ensure that you can fulfill your longed desire.
Undoubtedly, spending New Year's Eve in Puno is one of the best alternatives if you are looking for a greater spiritual connection and mysticism.
The city of Iquitos receives a large number of tourists every year, especially during the New Year's Eve festivities, where the New Year's Eve party is celebrated with music, dances and exotic drinks.
What stands out the most is to give amulets made with Huayruros, native seeds of the Peruvian jungle, this amulet protects the wearer from bad vibes, envy and any evil.
You can enjoy the New Year in Iquitos in its bars and restaurants that offer Christmas dinners, based on local products, and the typical tasting of exotic drinks made from cocona and aguaje. You will also discover that the names of these drinks are quite suggestive, but this alone makes Iquitos one of the most fun destinations to spend New Year's Eve.
In this city, ancestral traditions are also performed to welcome the New Year in Tarapoto. The curacas, chief healers, practice flowering rituals through baths with native Amazonian plants.
Many also choose jungle cities such as Tarapoto and Iquitos to spend New Year's Eve performing Ayahuasca ceremonies, an ancestral ritual that connects the visitor with the spiritual world through a sacred drink.
Also, at midnight, a show of lights and music is offered in the main square, where everyone is invited to have fun.
Tierra de los Andes is a company that has more than 23 years offering the best experiences to its visitors who arrive to the Peruvian territory to know every tourist corner, this time the workers of Terandes share with us their experiences of how they receive the new year.
Rosmery Hinojosa, Sales Advisor tells us how she receives the new year: "In the new year we spend with the family, the children and to receive the new year. In Terandes we make an offering with fruit, food because we believe that this helps to ensure that food is not lacking during the year, we also make an offering with rice, lentils, that kind of thing.
She also sends greetings to the Terandes family "let's be united, let's work as a team so that everything goes well during the year". This is how Rosmery welcomes the new year in Tierra de los Andes.
Aquino Palomino, guide of Tierra de los Andes tells us how he receives the new year "we receive the new year wearing yellow clothes, normally for midnight we prepare the 12 grapes and you eat them one by one every month that passes and many do it under the table or in another place that has more secret in the house".
To Tierra de los Andes I wish the best of everything and that this new year brings us better goals, work, money and everything we want, this was the message of our guide Aquino who is grateful to be this new year with all the Terandes team.
Arnold Humpiri, sales consultant in the French market shares his experience of how he welcomes the new year "I usually go out shopping, sometimes we cook as a family, it depends a lot on how we are feeling as a family and we decide based on that.
Personally I don't do particular or traditional cabals, but I usually do other very particular ones like for example I like to go to the highest part of my house or another place and I like to feel a good vibrational energy".
He also sent greetings to all the workers of Tierra de los Andes "I've been working for a year in this company and we do different activities and I think that helps us to strengthen confidence among ourselves and as colleagues.
I send my best wishes to the entire Terandes family, that the company continues to grow as it has been doing all these years with the social projection it has and that it continues to commit itself more to all its collaborators".
A. Michael Sales Manager tells that in the family of Tierra de los Andes receive the new year with the company managers of the company in which they meet with all members of the teams share a toast and all give the best wishes to start this new year.
She shares her experience of some of the cabals she does to welcome the new year "mainly we leave the house clean, we renew not only at home but also in our souls because it is a new opportunity that one begins, that God gives us to start again".
To end the testimonies of our workers, Michael sends best wishes to all those who make up the team, "Thank God for the opportunity they give us, thank the managers and the whole team that is guiding us, thanks to this we can develop all the work for customers and travelers we have, give best wishes to each and every one of the family of Tierra de los Andes.
This is how each of the members receive and practice some of the cabals for the New Year, a custom that is transmitted from generation to generation, from Tierra de los Andes we wish you a Happy New Year, we will continue to fulfill the dream of each of our tourists to know and take the best experiences of our beloved Peru.
