Cabanaconde, the location where the Virgin of Carmen fiesta is celebrated, is an important piece of identity for not only the Cabeneños who reside in the village, but also for the migrants who have sought another life in the United States. The author, Karsten Paerregaard mainly explores the effect on identity for the migrants who do not currently reside in their native land and the social and cultural implications that have resulted. The Virgin of Carmen festival is organized by a devoto; Cristina is the particular devoto who is mentioned in the article that organized the 2005 fiesta. The author mentions that oftentimes the devoto is a migrant who is well-established in the U.S., however a myriad a sponsors also play an important role in the economic aspect of the event. The fact that the organizer is a migrant is important to note. The fiesta is a “showcase for migrants’ loyalty to their native village” and demonstrates that they still have a good connection with their place of origin (58). It gives migrants a sense of belonging, but is also used as a means to show that the organizer has been successful as an immigrant in the United States. As for community identity, the festival is centered on religion and spirituality where the Virgin of Carmen is their protector. This is notion that the community is united around. In fact, this is probably the most significant reason for why the devoto chooses to organize the event. Cristina states that she was diagnosed with cancer, however with her belief in the Virgin of Carmen and statement that she would organize a fiesta, she almost fully recovered. Other devotos experienced similar miracles.

A divisive result of translational migration that has changed the significance of the event for the larger community is the sense of social divide that exists among the migrants and native villagers. The author argues, “The village’s migrant population is thus gradually taking over Cabanaconde’s traditional rituals and religious life world, which has become an arena of migrant competition and growing mistrust and tension between migrants and villagers” (59). A transformation is occurring in which the event is converting from a rural religious celebration to an urban and globalized event. For the 2005 fiesta, Cristina and her networks spent nearly USD$100,000. Through this modernization and globalization, Cristina and other devotos are trying to portray themselves as important people that have contributed greatly to their village and as people who exert significant economic and social influence of their migrant networks. Devotos are essentially using their platform as an organizer of the event to fortify their role in their support networks. As a result, the event is losing its spiritual aspect as it becomes increasingly globalized by migrant devotos.

It is clear after reading the article that the Virgin of Carmen festival plays an incredibly important role in community identity for the Cabaneños. For Cabaneños abroad, the funding, planning, participation in, and celebration of the Virgin of Carmen festival allows them to form and strengthen their identities as part of the Cabanaconde community. For the Cabaneños in Cabanaconde, the participation in and celebration of the Virgin of Carmen festival allows them to commemorate the history and culture of their community. Large religious celebrations and rituals all tend to help strengthen a person’s identity in relation to their community, and I would argue that the Virgin of Carmen festival is no exception. Much like how a person’s participation in Easter or Christmas might help them form and strengthen their own identity and the identity of the Christian community that they are a part of, the Virgin of Carmen festival helps Cabaneños everywhere to celebrate and preserve their culture while also strengthening personal and communal identities. This is perhaps best shown through this quote: “In effect, the fiesta has become an identity emblem that migrants can draw on to express their sense of belonging and that serves as a point of reference with which Cabanenos living elsewhere distinguish themselves from migrants from other regions”.

In the article, the author argues that the rise of transnational migration has indeed changed the manner in which the festival is celebrated. Paerregaard states that “the village’s migrant population is thus gradually taking over Cabanaconde’s traditional rituals and religious life world”. Due to the fact that transnational migrants in places like the US have more connections and networks to draw from and access to more money, they have the ability to affect the entire community. When you apply this to the Virgin of Carmen festival, you can see how the migrants have changed the manner in which it is celebrated. What was once a religious ritual has now become “an event supported by an urban consumption lifestyle”. In addition, it would appear as though many of the inhabitants of the village are a bit bothered by the fact that the migrants have “taken over” the festival. Although the celebration promotes unity among Cabaneños everywhere, the rise of transnational migration has created competition between migrants and villagers.

In the article “The Show Must Go On: The Role of Fiestas in Andean Transnational Migration” by Karsten Paerregaard, he talks about the fiesta of Virgin of Carmen and the significance it holds for the Cabaneno community. Paerregaard explains how originally the fiesta was a religious experience where the community made offerings to the Virgin of Carmen and to the local mountains. Currently the fiesta is a platform for people who have migrated from Cabanaconde to show how successful they are. The fiesta has two devotos who sponsor and organize the fiesta. The devotos are competing to see who can provide the best entertainment, food, and other activities. To pay for all of this each devoto turns to his family and close friends to see if they could help pay for things. The fiesta easily costs USD$10,000, but it most likely costs more. The devotos take on this role for multiple reasons. One reason is to showcase how successful they are, and the other reason is to stay connected to their roots. The fiesta of Virgin of Carmen is a huge celebration for the Cabaneno community and lasts about four days. It is a huge part of their community; therefore, it is a part of their identity. It is their biggest celebration. Even when some of the Cabanenos migrate to different countries, their relatives who still live in Cabanaconde record the fiesta and send it to them, so they can see it.

     I thought the article on Fiestas in Andean Transnational Migration was a very interesting read, especially in the context of the themes in our class. Cabanaconde is a special village in southern Peru that takes pride in its culture and distinct characteristics that make it different from the rest of Peru. I found it very interesting that even though the village is located in Peru, the villagers go through an extensive measure to ensure that the indigenous peoples of the village stay separated from other Peruvian peoples and culture. At first, I thought it was strange that the CCA in Washington created a soccer league for Cabaneños only even though the other members were still from Peru. But after I continued reading the article and thinking about the issue, it made sense that these Cabaneños would want to preserve their cultural traditions and practices. As usual, the traditions and practices help to define cultural identities and I think that’s what makes the example of Cabanaconde a crucial example for this class’ themes.

     The Virgin of Carmen festival plays a huge part in the community’s identity because the Virgin of Carmen is a faith-based, religious figure. The Cabaneños celebrate the Virgin of Carmen around the time of crop harvesting in hopes that the Virgin would ensure them plentiful crops that year. To believe in a tradition custom to the village displays a lot of loyalty to Cabanaconde. For the Cabaneños to take pride in organizing the Fiestas even from the different countries they immigrated to. I think the rise of transnational migration changed the celebration of the fiestas both positively and negatively. A positive change in the sense that even when the Cabaneños migrated from Cabanaconde they didn’t have to feel like they abandoned their traditions back home; instead, they could still be involved with the festival from their new home as Cristina did. The negative impact that Transnational migration has on the celebration of this festival is that many Cabaneños that migrate to these new countries illegally find it hard to make it back to Cabanaconde to celebrate the tradition. This is the divide that Paerregaard mentioned in the thesis of her article. This divide comes across almost as a tinge of jealousy from those immigrants that are undocumented and can’t travel home to celebrate while they watch their documented family members and others take part in celebration.

The Paerregaard article talks about how the transnational citizens use the Virgin of Carmen as a mediation and media to express their ties to the original community in Cabanaconde. When people moved from one place to another, it is difficult for them to not feeling any cultural shock as well as the conscious difference. Therefore, they tend to use objects that could represent their culture in order to keep their original identity when being in a foreign land. Because I think when people moved to a new place, they may encounter the difficulty of distinguishing themselves. Their identities as Cabanacondes would be blurred and may be override and they will find themselves lost to both of them. Thus, the practice of the traditional habits or original customs are the ways they could potentially use to stay in their true identities and not being fully washed. Virgin of Carmen is a great example of showing this. People practicing this fiesta, traveling back to their homeland and spending thousands of hard earned money only means to preserve their ties to their culture and identity and connect to the tradition. However, when people are practicing the Virgin of Carmen, difference and divisions are shown. The preparations for the fiesta will emphasize some people’s success and exclusiveness over others who don’t have the chance and it’s often a signal to distinguish those who have achieved the social status as both transnational migrants and global cosmopolitans and those who do not.

But the old tradition changes with times and there are several big changes. The used to be villager’s agro-religious calendar and big event that emphasize protecting the good will of the local religious force has changed to serve as a tool for the migration to show their loyalty and their success in the cities. Also, it has switched from a rural religious life into a metropolitical lifestyle. It creates new relation of inequality and social tensions that thorough the change of the meaning of participation into the religious activity.

The Virgen Carmen is very important to the culture of Cabanaconde. The Virgen is very important because she offers a type of connection to the culture of Cabanaconde for the many migrants who leave the area. All people from Cabanaconde, weather or not they live in the area, can look to the Virgen and be connected to their native culture. The festival of the Virgen Carmen is very important to the people of Cabanaconde because many migrants return to their home in Cabanaconde which allows them to reconnect with their native culture. This prevents them from loosing touch with their home but it also helps to build social networks that draw new migrants which causes the growth of the international community. The incredible festival for the Virgen Carmen is also important because it draws tourism to the area. Transnational migration has reinforced the importance of the festival as a means to develop social networks because these social networks are critical for migration, especially for poorer families. The festival for the Virgen Carmen has also changed because of transnational migration because the migration has shifted the festival from a festival that was primarily agro-religious to a festival that emphasizes citizens and migrants devotion to the local town and area.