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Description
A large group of men and women in costume dance as they walk in pairs in a line down a street during the Carnaval de Barranquilla, celebrated in Colombia's Caribbean city of Barranquilla in Atlántico Department. The women are wearing white blouses, long flowered skirts that they are fanning and their hair is decorated with a flower. The men are wearing a white outfit and a sombrero vueltiao (turned hat). A large crowd of men, women and children stand on the edges of the street enjoying the day's festivities. In the background of the image there is another float visible and a large crowd of participants walking. They are all members of a cumbiamba (cumbia band) called Agua P'a Mi (Water for Me). The cumbiamba traces its origins to Colombia's Caribbean region, a result of the religious and cultural syncretism that took place following the Spanish conquest where Indigenous, African and European cultures clashed. Cumbiambas were formed to provide music and entertainment during February's patronal feasts. During these feasts, attendees would dance to the sound of African and Indigenous music and also to music inspired by the mixture of cultures. A cumbiamba is not just a group, but an encounter where cumbia is both played and danced in celebration. Una multitud de hombres y mujeres en disfraz bailan mientras caminan sobre la calle en pares en fila durante el Carnaval de Barranquilla, celebrado en la ciudad caribeña de Barranquilla en el departamento de Atlántico. Las mujeres llevan una blusa blanca, una falda larga y floreada que agitan y su pelo está decorado con una flor. Los hombres llevan un atuendo blanco y un sombrero vueltiao. Una multitud de hombres, mujeres y niños yacen parados sobre los costados de la calle disfrutando de las festividades del día. Al fondo de la fotografía se observa otra carroza y una multitud de participantes caminando. Todos son miembros de una cumbiamba llamada Agua P'a Mi. La cumbiamba traza sus origenes en la región caribeña de Colombia, fruto del sincretismo religioso y cultural que se dió acabo despúes de la conquista española donde chocaron las culturas indígena, africana y europea. Las cumbiambas se formaron para proveer musica y entretenimiento durante las fiestas patronales de febrero, donde se bailaba al son de música africana e indígena y también música ya inspirada por la mezcla de culturas. La cumbiamba no nomás es un grupo, sino un encuentro donde la cumbia se toca y se baila con el fin de celebrar. Scholarly debate on the origins of the floats is currently divided. Some scholars argue that the floats originated in 1821 when carriages decorated with flowers were paraded down the street in celebration of Colombia's independence from Spain. Other scholars argue that the floats originated in 1903 where they were constructed and also decorated with flowers and paraded on the street in celebration of the end of the One Thousand Days War, which raged from 1899-1902, and to recover the tradition of the carnival that was lost as a result of the conflict. The use of flowers, while a European tradition, is a distinctly Colombian tradition as well since the country's vast flora encouraged Colombians to use flowers for decorative purposes. Barranquilla was founded as a city and port in 1627 by the Spanish crown, and it is located on the western side of the Magdalena River in Atlántico Department along the Caribbean Sea coast. Since the 1930s, Barranquilla has served as the entry point for the thousands of immigrants who over time were added to the already existing Colombian human diversity, making Barranquilla in the most important port in Colombia and its most important economic center, having been designated in 1993 as a special industrial and port center. Barranquilla hosts the Carnaval de Barranquilla, Colombia’s most important cultural celebration and the second largest carnaval after Brazil’s Río de Janeiro Carnaval. The Carnaval de Barranquilla traces its origins to the 19th century but took on its modern form in 1903 from which it has evolved from a local cultural celebration into a spectacle of international fame that challenges the norms of Colombia’s society turnings its intimate social spaces and situation into something public and tolerated. The music, costumes, dances, colors and joy is the result of three centuries of resistance, conflict and domination where Indigenous, native to the Americas, European, and African cultures were fused into a unique one. Celebrated annually in that Caribbean city, the Carnaval de Barranquilla was declared Cultural Heritage of Colombia in 2001 by the Congress of the Republic. Following this, UNESCO declared it in 2003 a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Richard Cross took this photograph during his stay in Colombia as a volunteer for Peace Corps between 1977-1978. During this time, he worked with Colombian anthropologist Nina S. de Friedemann in an anthropological study of the community of San Basilio de Palenque, descendants of the Africans who escaped Spanish slavery and formed the first community of freed Africans in the Americas. While collecting field information, researchers examined the different manifestations of the carnival in different places throughout the Caribbean region. During this, it was discovered that Palenqueros organized themselves into comparsas (dance troupes) that participated in annual festivities in Cartagena and Barranquilla. Through these Palenque-based comparsas, researchers observed the vestiges of the cabildo, refuge of their beliefs, artifacts, languages, customs and African rituals, and of the cuagros, the basic unit of social organization in Palenque de San Basilio.
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