Carnaval de Negros y Blancos

Pasto's Carnival, held in the first week of January, is the most important folk festival in southern Colombia and one of the few in the Americas inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Heritage list (2009). The pre-Carnival days from 28 December are the Castañeda Family parade and the indigenous Cuyabro parade, but the real event is 4–6 January.

Wear nothing you care about. You will be covered in black grease one day and rainbow powders the next. Hotels book out months in advance.

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A story
The 'Black' day on 5 January originates in a colonial-era custom that gave African slaves a single day of freedom; locals smear each other with black greasepaint in commemoration. The 'White' day on 6 January is paint and powder of every other colour, and the parade of giant carrozas — papier-mâché floats built over months in workshops around the city — is the climax.

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