STORY: Dancers and musicians took to the streets of El Alto, Bolivia's second largest city, on Saturday (February 14) for the Jisk'a Anata, an annual Indigenous carnival marking the agricultural cycle and the arrival of the rainy season.

Wearing brightly coloured traditional attire, the Aymara and other indigenous groups paraded behind wind bands as they performed dances linked to sowing, rainfall and the first harvests. Performers showcased agricultural dances, as the mosenada — an Aymara rhythm played with large wooden flutes — and the lively ch’utas, a hallmark of the La Paz region.

The celebration forms part of the broader Andean carnival tradition that honours Pachamama, or Mother Earth, and expresses gratitude for fertility and the beginning of the harvest season, a core element of community life on the high Andean plateau.

"We are always venerating the rainy season, so that the products that nature gives us will be plenty, like potatoes, quinoa, oca, barley, so that is what we venerate in these carnival times," said Eusberto Mamani, who was performing in the parade with his indigenous dance group.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: EL ALTO, BOLIVIA (FEBRUARY 14, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. INDIGENOUS PERSON PERFORMING HARVEST DANCE AT THE JISK'A ANATA,, OR SMALL FESTIVAL

2. INDIGENOUS MUSIC BAND

3. INDIGENOUS PERSON CARRYING FLAG OF DANCE GROUP

4. INDIGENOUS PEOPLE PLAYING INSTRUMENTS AT THE JISK'A ANATA

5. INDIGENOUS PERSON DANCING AT THE JISK'A ANATA

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEMBER OF INDIGENOUS DANCE GROUP, EUSBERTO MAMANI, SAYING:

"We are always venerating the rainy season, so that the products that nature gives us will be plenty, like potatoes, quinoa, oca, barley, so that is what we venerate in these carnival times."

7. VARIOUS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE DANCING CH'UTAS, A TRADITIONAL DANCE FROM LA PAZ PROVINCE

8. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE DANCING CH'UTAS

9. VARIOUS OF MUSICAL BAND MEMBERS ACCOMPANYING THE CH'UTAS

10. VARIOUS OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN DANCING MOSENADA, AN INDIGENOUS AYMARA DANCE

11. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DANCER, MELANY CORONEL, SAYING:

"In this February season we completely change the instruments and dances, we dance and perform this Anata for the change, for the rainy season and that's why we play mosenada, tarkeada, we dance all these dances because it's harvest time."

12. VARIOUS OF BAND MEMBERS ACCOMPANYING DANCERS

13. VARIOUS OF PERFORMERS DOING HARVEST DANCE

14. VARIOUS OF PERFORMERS IN RED ATTIRE DOING MOSENADA DANCE

15. VARIOUS OF BAND MEMBERS ACCOMPANYING DANCERS AT THE JISK'A ANATA