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Festival preserves culture

The Veraguas community of Los Corralillos de Atalaya will host the 22nd Festival del violín y el guacho en totuma, which highlights traditional foods, music and dances.

LA PRENSA

Preparing rice for guacho en totuma1024075

Today, the community of Los Corralillos de Atalaya will begin celebrating the XXII Festival del violín y el guacho en totuma, which highlights traditional customs and foods.

Organizer Juvencio Pimentel said the event ensures that traditions popular in the country's rural areas are continued so that future generations have the chance to experience them.

Attendees will be able to sample the festival's primary dish, guacho en totuma. It is a rice-based dish that has different types of meats and vegetables such as yams, yucca and potatoes. It is eaten on a totuma, which is a wooden plate.

Los Corralillos is in the province of Veraguas. The festival lasts one day.

The festival also highlights traditional music, thus the víolin aspect, which was used in many traditional songs.

There will also be dancing and, as is the custom in the area, cock fighting.

Pimentel said the festival has become very popular in the region, attracting 20 folklore groups from across the country.

Lira Batista, a folklorist, said that such events are of great importance because they preserve important traditions, and thus help preserve the country's national identity.