A very popular custom in Cusco to celebrate New Year’s is burning dolls. Just before the year ends, when the clock strikes the las moments, people want the new year to be better than the prior. By burning a doll, they feel they leave behind all the bad that happened to them. They cleanse themselves of negative energies.
The doll is made from old clothes. The people give it the form of a man or a woman. Its form and face almost always have to do with Peruvian politicians or celebrities. The people give it a mask to represent that person.
They do all of this to make room for the new year, for its new and good desires, so that hope returns, new goals, new dreams to live and to fulfill.
We call these acts cabalas. They are to clear space and make the new year good.
Another cabala is to take your suitcases and roam with them around your house or neighborhood. In this way you show your hope to travel more.
Thanks to these and other cabalas of good fortune, people can await this new year 2017 and hope in it they attain all their goals and dreams.
