The "Festival del Bambuco en San Juan y San Pedro", formerly called "Festival Folclórico y Reinado Nacional del Bambuco" or Bambuco Pageant and Folkloric Festival in English, is the largest and most important celebration in Huila Department and one of the most important celebrations in southern Colombia. It is celebrated annually in the city of Neiva during the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul and attracts a considerable number of Colombian and foreign tourists. The festival was declared National Cultural heritage by the Congress of Colombia in 2006.
The Festivity is formed by three events, the Folkloric Festival, the Bambuco Pageant and the International Folklore Exposition. The Festival celebrates Bambuco music.
History Since the 18th century, locals celebrated obedience to the Spanish monarch in the months of June and July,Festival Folclórico y Reinado Nacional del Bambuco: el regreso a las raíces andinas, Colombian Tourism Portal. as well as the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint John. At the time, Saint John's Feast was a rural festivity while Saint Peter's was celebrated in the cities.
In 1960, the festivities were officialized and the Festival Folclórico y Reinado Nacional del Bambuco were established.
Reinado Nacional del Bambuco The Reinado Nacional del Bambuco is a contest similar to beauty pageants in which contestants, each representing a Colombian Department, are judged on six parameters: Performance of Sanjuanero dance, beauty, general knowledge, popularity, punctuality and performance of regional dance.REGLAMENTO GENERAL REINADO NACIONAL DEL BAMBUCO, The Reinado's Official Rule Book. Of these, the performance of the Sanjuanero dance grants the most points, followed by beauty. The contests' winner is declared as the National Bambuco Queen (Spanish: Reina Nacional del Bambuco). It has been made in 57 uninterrupted editions from 1961 to 2017, the first winning department was Huila while the most recent and current winner of the title is Huila as well. In the 57 editions a total of 21 territorial entities (20 departments and Bogotá) have obtained at least one crown, the department that has won the most is the host department, Huila, with a total of 7 crowns, followed by Atlántico with 6, Meta and Caquetá both with 5 and Valle del Cauca with 4, the information of all the winning departments with their respective years is shown below:
Year National Bambuco Queen Department 1961 Luz Cucalón Garcia Huila 1963 Rocio Cock Jaramillo Antioquia 1964 Lucy Abuchaibe Ochoa Atlántico 1965 Maria Cristina Lalinde Valle del Cauca 1966 Martha Querubin Bogotá 1967 Myriam Tovar Diaz Meta 1968 Beatriz Eugenia Fajardo Atlántico 1969 Maria Eugenia Gomez López Cauca 1970 Liliana Gomez Cundinamarca 1971 Luz Teresa Zamora Tolima 1972 Lucy Abuchaibe Ochoa Caquetá 1973 Melba Becerra Serrano Santander 1974 Luz Stella Velandiaa Bogotá 1975 Luz Marina Gonzalez Santander 1976 Patricia Abello Marin Atlántico 1977 Martha Isabel Gomez Santander 1978 Raquel Garcia Sucre 1979 Carla Maria Fattoni Antioquia 1980 Maite Show del Rio San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina 1981 Silvana Gonzalez Mortelo Atlántico 1982 Gloria Patricia Farfan Caquetá 1983 Maria Sther Espinosa Córdoba 1984 Marixa Fernandez Fernandez Huila 1985 Liliana Serrano Ochoa Bolívar 1986 Diana Esperanza Rodriguez Meta 1987 Sandra Maria Muñoz Valle del Cauca 1988 Indira Maria Gutierrez Cesar 1989 Naffy Sther Adarraga Cesar 1990 Claudia Lorena Muñoz Valle del Cauca 1991 Adriana Lucia Uribe Huila 1992 Lina Maria Jaramillo Castaño Risaralda 1993 Liliana Maria Merlano Valderrama Atlántico 1994 Linda Abuchive Echavarria La Guajira 1995 Ana Milena Gomez Henao Caldas 1996 Liliana Andrea Lozano Caquetá 1997 Maribel Lopera Sierra Antioquia 1998 Heidy Johana Moreno Meta 1999 Gloria Helena Garcia Cruz Tolima 2000 Alicia Eugenia Bosi Martinez Bolívar 2001 Larissa Fernanda Calderon Ortiz Huila 2002 Leidy Sanchez Loaiza Caquetá 2003 Marta Carolina Mora Acevedo Atlántico & Barranquilla 2004 Valentina Cuervo Correa Caldas 2005 Maria del Mar Tovar Gomez Huila 2006 Dayana Zamara Delgado Contreras Norte de Santander 2007 Beatriz Pinedo Pavon La Guajira 2008 Diana Milena Ortiz Rojas Meta 2009 Shadia Rujana Artunduaga Huila 2010 Ana María Hernández Romero Cundinamarca 2011 Zaira Karina Pérez Colina Arauca 2012 Paola Andrea Novoa Bogotá 2013 Natalia Andrea Fernández Copete Meta 2014 Gabriela Garcia Giraldo Valle del Cauca 2015 Gleidy Paola Joven Losada Caquetá 2016 Valentina Bonilla Neira Tolima 2017 Evelyn Tatiana Bello Yara Huila
By Department
Department Wins YearsHuila71961, 1984, 1991, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2017Atlántico61964, 1968, 1976, 1981, 1993, 2003Caquetá51972, 1982, 1996, 2002, 2015Meta1967, 1986, 1998, 2008, 2013Valle del Cauca41965, 1987, 1990, 2014Antioquia31963, 1979, 1997Tolima1971, 1999, 2016Bogotá1966, 1974, 2012Santander1973, 1975, 1977Cundinamarca21970, 2010La Guajira1994, 2007Caldas1995, 2004Bolívar1985, 2000Cesar1988, 1989Arauca12011 Norte de Santander2006Risaralda1992Córdoba1983San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina1980Sucre1978Cauca1969
Festival activities "Anselmo Durán Plazas" National Music Performing Contest. "Jorge Villamil Cordovez" National Music Composition Contest. "Inés García de Durán" National and International Dance Encounter.
References
External links
Ferias & Fiestas que no te puedes Perder, Colombia.