Row over ancestral festivity divides Afro-Colombian town

Marino Hurtado has been building balsadas every year for more than four decades

Marino Hurtado, 78, sits among piles of yellow palm-like leaves, painstakingly folding them into loops and weaving them together, just as he has done each opening week of December for the past 62 years.

Mr Hurtado is joined by friends and neighbours from his hometown of Guapi, on Colombia's Pacific coast, as they build and decorate one of the large wooden rafts that takes part in the town's annual festival known as "balsadas" (from "balsa", Spanish for raft).

"Even though I have a bad leg, I help out," he says, intertwining the corozo leaves. "It's a joy."

The balsadas are a colourful and festive event, full of cultural and religious significance for Guapireños, as locals are known.

Colourful rafts with elaborate decorations are at the heart of the festivity

Each year, on the night of 7 December, the humble fishing town comes to life to honour the Virgin Mary - Guapi's patron saint.

For the three days leading up to the event, a select number of families and communities spend long hours - sometimes up to 12 a day - designing, constructing and decorating their individual balsada.

The two-storey, wooden rafts are built by hand atop two large canoes and covered with the looping corozo leaves, bright lights and balloons mirroring the town's blue and white flag.

The crown jewel - a figure of the Virgin - takes pride of place on each of the balsadas, ready for the night's voyage down the river and into the town square.

A statue of the Virgin adorns each of the rafts

"The balsadas represent culture, they're very important because they unite us," says Willingtong Obregón, 34, a local fisherman whose family has been building balsadas for generations. "Rafts like these are only made here, this is our heritage and we identify with it."

The balsadas are a celebration of all that is holy to Guapireños: their faith and their Afro-Colombian roots. According to a 2013 census, 97% of the town's population is black.

Alfredo Obregón, 66, and his family are among the most fervent defenders of the balsadas

The recent election of Colombia's first ever black vice-president, Francia Márquez, has thrust Afro-Colombian voices into the limelight, providing them with greater support and recognition. In Guapi, Ms Márquez and her presidential running mate, Gustavo Petro, secured 94% of the vote in June's elections.

"Seeing her [Francia Márquez] there makes us visible and recognises our contributions to the construction of our country's identity," says Vecy Niño, 34, the secretary for culture, education and sport at Guapi's town hall.

Vecy Niño is one of those taking part in the construction of the rafts

Come nightfall, the four colourful rafts take to the river with approximately 40 people on board, of whom about 12 are members of different local Afro-Pacific bands.

Aboard the raft, jubilant locals chant and dance to the vibrant beat of the cununo drum, while bottles of viche - a local sugar cane liquor - are passed around and an array of bright fireworks light up the night sky.

"Music is what brings the flavour, the essence. A balsada without music is no balsada," Mr Obregón says.

Music is a key part of the celebration

Ahead of the rafts, the town's homonymous river flickers and glows as locals place 3,000 flaming coconuts into its waters to guide the balsadas to the town square.

Upon their arrival, the four balsadas spin around each other, stepping up the pyrotechnics as they put on a show for the thousands of locals watching from the shores.

From behind a veil of smoke, the glowing Virgin Mary statue emerges, illuminated by the fireworks and the rafts' bright lights. The statue is carried to the town church, where she is placed by the altar ahead of Mass the following morning.

The statue of the Virgin Mary is carried to the church

Floating alongside the usual balsadas is a new vessel, one that has divided opinion: a sponsored tourist one. Visitors can pay about 150,000 pesos (£25) to board the balsada as it journeys downriver.

Some of the locals object to the presence of the boat carrying tourists

The ticket includes a commemorative T-shirt and a bottle of viche to enjoy on the raft.

For the last few years the local town hall has been pushing for the balsadas to be officially recognised by the Ministry of Culture, as an event of cultural heritage and national importance. This would provide the local town hall with greater funds and resources for the festivity.

The community sings and dances to traditional music from the Pacific

"It would make us visible," says Vecy Niño, arguing that it would ensure that the balsadas are respected and valued.

"It conserves cultural practices that over time may otherwise be lost, but most importantly, it provides us a sense of belonging."

However, some in the community worry that official recognition would overly commercialise the event, thus diluting the balsadas' religious and Afro-Colombian roots and distancing it from ancestral customs and traditions.

Members of the community gather in the church to pray as part of their acts of devotion to the Virgin Mary

They point to the new touristic balsada as an early indication of what may yet be to come.

A lifelong Guapi resident thinks there is a risk that people from outside taking part will not understand "the essence of a cultural manifestation that has been preserved for centuries and that is linked with the black community's history of resistance".

"They're not considering the historical, social, or political elements, but are instead looking at it as a spectacle with a very foreign gaze," she explains.

But as locals prepare to stage the return of the balsadas for 24 December to celebrate Christmas, Ms Niño insists that "innovating cultural traditions adds value".

"We can transform things without losing the essence of what they mean."

All photos by Fernanda Pineda subject to copyright.