Peru welcomes the New Year through ancestral wishes and Andean tradition: Video
Peru welcomed the New Year by turning to ancestral customs that blend spirituality, symbolism and hope.
In Lima’s Jesús María district, the Fair of Wishes became one of the spaces where Peruvians marked the start of the year, gathering to seek good fortune, prosperity and wellbeing through rituals rooted in Andean tradition.
Visitors moving through the fair encountered stalls filled with alasitas, miniature figures representing personal aspirations, alongside stones, candles and natural quartz. These objects form part of a belief system in which material symbols are used to give shape to desires, with the expectation that intention and ritual can help turn them into reality.
Now in its 27th edition, the fair reflects practices shared across the Peruvian–Bolivian highlands, where faith in miniatures and wishes has been passed down for generations. Vendors say the figures commonly represent homes, vehicles, family life or economic stability, mirroring the goals many people set at the beginning of a new year.
In addition to the miniatures, the fair offers cleansing baths, amulets and energy rituals aimed at attracting health, love, prosperity and success. For many participants, selecting an item marks the symbolic beginning of a process through which hopes for the coming year are activated.
The Fair of Wishes will remain open until early February, but its significance is closely tied to the New Year period. In a global context shaped by uncertainty and rapid change, the tradition stands as a distinctly Peruvian way of welcoming the year ahead through cultural continuity and collective belief.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
