Santurantikuy Market

Santurantikuy means the selling of saints in Quechua, and it happens once a year: on 24 December the Plaza de Armas is given over to hundreds of artisans who lay out cloths on the ground and sell carved and moulded figures for nativity scenes - the Niño Manuelito, the Cusco Christ child with his own iconography, along with shepherds, animals, angels and the moss, lichen and ceramic buildings people use to build the crib at home. Some sellers are established workshops from San Blas, many are families from villages across the region who come in for the day. The fair goes back to the colonial period and it is one of the largest of its kind in the Americas. It runs through the day and into the evening, with the plaza packed, and traditional drinks and food sold at the edges. On Christmas Day the square is empty again.

What you actually see

• The ground stalls - hundreds of artisans selling from cloths across the plaza.
• The Niño Manuelito - the Cusco Christ child figure with its own local iconography.
• The crib materials - moss, lichen, ceramic buildings, shepherds and animals.
• The one-day scale - a colonial-era fair filling the main square for a single day.

When to go

24 December only, from morning through the evening. Two to four hours. Go early for the best pieces; serious buyers arrive at dawn.

Honest expectations

Extremely crowded and it is a single day - miss it and it is gone for a year. Pickpocketing is a real problem in the crush. Cold and often wet, as December is the rainy season. Prices rise sharply as the day goes on.

Nearby

San Blas, where many of the carvers work, is up the hill from the square.