Bolivians carry human skulls asking for favours in festival
LA PAZ, Bolivia – Hundreds of Bolivians have carried human skulls adorned with flowers to a cemetery in the capital city of La Paz, asking for health, money, love and other favours.
The devotees brought the skulls known as “natitas” for a short Mass at the cemetery Tuesday. They later played music, danced and lit candles.
Others took 67 skulls into a home in La Paz as part of the ritual celebrated annually a week after the Day of the Dead.
The Roman Catholic Church considers the skull festival to be pagan, but it doesn’t ban people from taking part.
The festival is a mix of Andean ancestral worship and Catholic beliefs. Experts say it was common in pre-Columbian times to keep skulls as trophies and display them to symbolize death and rebirth.
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