Enjoying Bolivia 145these periods, the Spanish colony has had the most lasting
effect on social customs.
Most festivals are a hybrid of Spanish Catholicism
superimposed over indigenous religious ceremonies, an
expedient method for Catholicism to make inroads into
Bolivian social structures. Many indigenous customs have
survived under a cloak of Catholicism.
Bolivia’s festivals reconcile two contradictory world
views. But the festival, throughout Latin America,
also functions as an escape from the drudgery of
oppression and thwarted livelihoods. Mexican Nobel
Prize winner Octavio Paz addressed this issue in The
Labyrinth of Solitude, where he explains that the excesses
of the fi esta are a type of purging of frustrations born out
of historical rape.
El Presterío
In some communities, the custom of El Presterío still exists.
El preste is the man who is appointed to pay for the whole
party, including drinks, food and musicians. Prior to his
appointment, he may have been the wealthiest person in
town. In the aftermath of the fi esta, he is down to the level
of everyone else.
Originally, this custom was the great redistributor of wealth,
the social equaliser. But the custom has been diluted in those
villages least isolated from contemporary life. Now, villagers
are expected to make their contribution to the preste.
As the fi esta loses a measure of its democratic traits in rural
Bolivia, it democratises in urban areas. A typical festival once
had two scenarios: the clubs for the elites and the streets for
the masses. But as class structures are loosened, the fi esta is
polarised no longer. Comparsas (dance troupes) formed by
‘elites’ swirl down the streets in the same dance chain as
Cholos and Indians.
Affl uent Bolivians now participate in street festivals,
because that’s where the real excitement lies. Meanwhile,
as indigenous communities become more politicised, fewer
folk are likely to blow a whole year’s savings on a few days
of exuberance and excess.