2017-02-20 Mon

Buenos Dias amigos, the National Festival of Sun is coming soon in Argentina! Held between the last Tuesday of February and the last Saturday of February, this festival is celebrated in the province of San Juan, Argentina.

Argentina is a very dry and arid country and has high rates of heliophany. Thus there are hardly any vegetated environments with a marked scarcity of water resources. Even in these situations, there is a constant water flow in their rivers as solar energy melts the glacial snow of the Andes Mountains. These river sources are the only sources of water for San Juan and have provided for early maturing crops like grapes to come first into the market from here. Besides this, high levels of heliophany have made Argentina a pioneer in the production of solar energy. Thus the sun is the most important resource for them and hence to honor it they started the festival of Sun in 1972.

There are 3 important parts of the festival- Thematic Fair, Carrusel del Sol and the Final show besides other small events. The Thematic fair is a gastronomic, agro-industrial and tourist exhibition. The main attraction of Carrusel del Sol is the “queen selection parade”- one woman from each province catwalks and among these the Queen of Sun is selected. She then has to attend every international festival in many countries across the globe as the country’s representative.

During the Final Show, the new Queen is crowned by the outgoing Queen along with the national and provincial authorities. Later there are striking light and sound shows, performances and gigantic character plays. The stage, also called Arc del Sol, is located in the Quebrada de Zonda which is surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Argentina Post issued this 1.50 Argentine Peso stamp in the commemoration of Sun on 20th February 2010.

Sun is a very important part of most cultures across the world. To know more about our Indian Sun God read The Chariot of the Sun God and The fall of Phaeton .