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The most outstanding and beloved Fiesta of San Salvador de Jujuy is the Carnival with its very autochthon overtones. Other traditional fiestas are the Manca Fiesta, in La Quiaca, and El Toreo de la Vincha, in Casabindo.
Those travellers that visit the city during Christmas will have opportunities to enjoy its traditional aspects, such as the typical Nativity scenes, the singing of Christmas carols, the old Ribbon Dance or the Winding and Unwinding Game, where children running at cross directions around a pole, each holding on to the end of a long gaily coloured ribbon all stuck on top of the pole, will first "dress" the pole with the ribbons and later on running in opposite directions will unwind the ribbons. A sight that is full of live tradition and colour.
On August 23rd every year, and during the next week the people of Jujuy evoke the Exodus, when on July 28th, 1812, during the war for Independence, all the people of Jujuy followed General Belgrano into an orderly retreat in front of the victorious Spanish Crown armies, leaving only scorched earth behind.
Between September 17th and 23rd, the city dresses up in laughter and youth. It is the month when the students in the different colleges, schools and Departmental institutions make feasts and elect their representatives to participate in the National and Latin American pageant for the title of the Queen of Students.
During religious festivities, the locals will come down from the mountains and organise processions, always accompanied by local music on typical instruments.
The expansion of the city in modern times into the surrounding hills has made it into an interesting mix of modernity with an old colonial centre.
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