Happy Tinku!

I was shopping in the Cancha today when something spectacular caught my eye. This pirated DVD cost me all of 3bs (50¢) and may be my new prized possession. Although it may be hard to appreciate if you haven’t lived in both Bolivia and the United States, a Happy Tinku is the most hilarious oxymoron imaginable.

Tinku is a traditional dance, which I described during Carnival. But the dance is a representation a very real ritual. Tinku is traditional combat between indigenous communities. Tinku is rarely practiced these days, and is found primarily in rural Potosi, Oruro and Sucre. Few outsiders have seen Tinku, but the people I know who have described it as absolutely terrifying. A fellow I work with actually invited me to a supposedly tamer Tinku in nearby Tapacari, but I declined, having learned my lesson with cockfighting in Nicaragua, Mexico and Guatemala.

During festivals, different communities come together for days to trade, sing, dance and above all else, drink. As different communities drink themselves stupid, latent hostilities and rivalries can rise to the surface, and people become increasingly aggressive. Young men don leather helmets like those of Phujllay and bind their hands with leather belts, sometimes with stones in their fists. They supposedly strike at each other with sickening ferocity, until one combatant is unconscious. Most years someone dies during a Tinku. Their blood is considered an offering to Pachamama, in lieu of a llama. While that may be hard for us to understand, Tinku does serve an important purpose, both asserting indigenous identity and diffusing conflicts between rival communities.

Occasionally young women also fight, but it’s generally a more subdued affair, with scratching, hair pulling and clothes ripping. So I suppose one might be able to draw a parallel between Jerry Springer or brawling fratboys in our society and Tinku in Bolivian society, but I’m still not a big fan of either.