Takanakuy (Quechua for "to hit each other")[1] is an annual established practice of fighting fellow community members held on 25 December, by the inhabitants of Chumbivilcas Province, near Cuzco, in Peru.
[2] The practice started in Santo Tomás, the capital of Chumbivilcas, and subsequently spread to other villages and cities, the prominent ones being Cuzco and Lima.
Those in favor claim that public brawling offers an alternative method to resolve conflict and create a peaceful society.
The majority of the dress is based on traditional horse-riding gear and brightly colored Peruvian ski masks, which are characteristic of the specific regional area.
Wool horse-riding pants, a leather cap, a harrington-like traditional Peruvian jacket, hollowed out bull's horn for the alcohol.
The specific Peruvian ski mask is called uyach'ullu, which has abstract symbolic associations and displays four colors (red, green, yellow, and white) which are supposed to represent the four quadrants of the universe.
[4] Aspects of this dress attempt to portray a slave master during the colonial periods; for example, knee-high leather boots, fancy worsted pants, a nice shirt and waistcoat, a silk embroidered cape in pink or baby blue, and a cardboard crown with shiny wrapping paper on the sides and a star at the top.
This type of outfit was traditionally reserved for the wealthy men in town and served in contrast to the Majeno's drunk archetype.
[5] The outfit is made from a bright colored raincoat and pants meant to mimic the shiny abdomen of the locust, and sometimes worn with a plastic miner's helmet or a dead bird tied around the neck.
[4] This specific fighter wears no distinct type of dress attributed to Andean culture but still takes part in the procession but not the ceremonious fighting.
[5] The procession to the fighting site starts with a high-pitched falsetto, a method of voice production used by male singers, especially tenors, to sing notes higher than their normal range, through the streets.
A teacher from the local indigenous community of Santo Tomás points to the significance of having such violent ceremony on a perceived peaceful day.