Carnaval de Oruro is Bolivia's most spectacular folkloric festival and a UNESCO Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage. The grand Entrada procession falls on Saturday, February 6, 2027. Watch the time remaining on our live Carnaval de Oruro countdown.
When is Carnaval de Oruro?
The main day — the Entrada — always lands on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, so it moves each year with the Easter cycle. Upcoming main dates:
- 2027 — Saturday, February 6
- 2028 — Saturday, February 26
- 2029 — Saturday, February 10
What is the Diablada?
The Diablada, or "dance of the devils," is the carnival's emblematic dance. Performers in towering horned masks and lavishly embroidered costumes act out the battle between the Archangel Michael and the seven deadly sins, ending in the triumph of good. It is one of dozens of dances — alongside the Morenada, Caporales and Tinku — performed during the festival.
The Entrada
The heart of the carnival is the Entrada: a roughly four-kilometre procession in which tens of thousands of costumed dancers and thousands of musicians perform almost without rest for up to twenty hours. They wind through the Andean mining city of Oruro toward the sanctuary of the Virgen del Socavón, the Virgin of the Mineshaft and patron of miners, to whom the whole celebration is devoted.
Why it matters
UNESCO proclaimed Carnaval de Oruro a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001. It fuses Catholic devotion with much older pre-Columbian Andean rituals, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to a city more than 3,700 metres above sea level.
Count down to the carnival
Open the live Carnaval de Oruro countdown for the exact days remaining, explore another world carnival countdown, or create your own countdown for any festival.