The Witches' Market, also known as El Mercado de las Brujas and La Hechiceria, is a popular tourist attraction located in Cerro Cumbre, a mountain clearing in La Paz, Bolivia.[1] It is located in the street of Linares, El Rosario neighborhood, but also extends to the streets of Jiménez, Santa Cruz and Illampu.[2][3] The market was named as a way to be recognizable for foreigners, due the high amount of visitors. In 2019, the market was named Intangible Cultural Heritage from La Paz.[2]
Most part of the products are sold by Aymara women, known as chifreras.[3][4] The market is run by local witch doctors known as yatiri, who sell potions, dried frogs, medicinal plants like retama, and armadillos used in Bolivian rituals.[5] They also work with fortune-telling, love magic and curses.[6] The yatiri can be easily identified by their black hats and coca pouches containing amulets, talismans and powders that promise luck, beauty and fertility.[7] Most famous of all the items sold in The Witches' Market are the dried llama fetuses, called "sullus".[8] These llama fetuses are buried under the foundations of many Bolivian houses as a sacred offering to the goddess Pachamama.[9] Pachamama rituals usually occur in October, the most busy month in the Witches Market.[2] According to the locals, arround 60% of sales happens in this month. Another month that is important to the market is February, during the Carnival.[3] Most part of the rituals have been adapted to an urban background due colonialism in Bolivia.[3]
References
- ^ Istvan, Zoltan.Witches' Market in Bolivia Sees Brisk Sales in Spells, National Geographic, May 30, 2003
- ^ a b c "El Mercado de las Brujas recibe a miles de visitantes en agosto" (in Spanish). El Comercio. 27 August 2024. Archived from the original on 9 March 2025. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ a b c d Juárez, Gerardo Fernández (2015). ""Rastas en el cemiterio": Rituales, globalización y derechos. El espetáculo público del patrimonio cultural imaterial en los Andes". Quaderns (in Spanish) (31). Institut Català d’Antropologia: 121–139. ISSN 0211-5557. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ "El misterioso Mercado de las Brujas en La Paz: donde la magia y la cultura se fusionan" (in Spanish). La Patria. 18 August 2024. Archived from the original on 9 March 2025. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ Shahriari, Sara. Bolivia's Witch Markets Offar Llama Fetuses and More, Huffington Post, March 18, 2010
- ^ Unger, Elizabeth (27 February 2018). "Go Inside Bolivia's Mystical Witch Market". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 9 March 2025. Retrieved 9 March 2025.
- ^ Carroll, Thomas. Bolivia's Witches' Market, Travelmag, June 20, 2003
- ^ Bolivia Travel. Witches' Market, La Paz, Uyuni Tours
- ^ Anabel. Bolivia Travel Tale: Baby Llamas in The Witches' Market in La Paz, Peru For Less Travel Blog, February 3, 2012
External links
Media related to Mercado de las Brujas at Wikimedia Commons
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