Alasitas Fair

Beginning every January 24th, the Alasitas Fair fills the streets and parks of La Paz for a month-long celebration honouring Ekeko, the Aymara god of abundance. Bolivians buy miniature versions of whatever they hope to receive in the year ahead — tiny houses, cars, diplomas, bundles of cash — and have them blessed at midday by the Catholic Church at the city's main cathedral, a striking fusion of Aymara and Catholic tradition unique to the Bolivian highlands.

Beyond the miniatures market itself, which gives the fair its central identity, Alasitas is also a genuine celebration of street food, artisanal crafts and community. Vendors line the fairgrounds with handmade goods and homemade food, while the broader atmosphere carries the festive, hopeful energy of a spring festival celebrating fecundity and renewal. Similar, smaller Alasitas fairs also incorporate into other Bolivian religious festivals throughout the year, including the Fiesta of the Virgin of Copacabana.

For visitors, Alasitas offers an unusually intimate window into Aymara spiritual life, wrapped inside a genuinely festive, food-and-craft-filled public celebration — a combination that UNESCO recognition efforts have specifically highlighted as part of Bolivia's intangible cultural heritage.