**3. Results**

The study identified a clear evolution and transformation of the cultural manifestations in Lajas between 2003 and 2018. The most lucid aspects included changes in clothing (Figures 1 and 2), increased entertainment activities to meet the demand of those attending the celebration, the introduction of some gastronomic products, outsourcing music, and lesser attendees at the religious events. The increase in the number of visitors, their demands, and contact with locals are some of the reasons of the cultural changes that were observed.

**Figure 1.** Visitors and locals from Lajas in 2003 during the celebration.

**Figure 2.** Visitors and locals from Lajas in 2018 during the celebration.

While the use of traditional clothing (hat, poncho, and belt) is still preserved, particularly for holidays, competitions, and local public events, it has been replaced by other modern garments. In the past 15 years, the Lajas celebration has increased entertainment activities (Motocard competition, Miss Lajas Beauty Queen—rural queen (Figure 3)—music band competitions, bullfights, etc.) as opposed to more traditional activities such as the mad cow or jester bullfights.

**Figure 3.** Rural beauty queen competition in traditional dress (2013).

<< I used to wear the hat, but not anymore. I stopped using it when I was young >> S1

<< When the festival was just beginning and in my youth, I used to always attend the processions, but over time he stopped going . . . >> S9

<<It has always been a fun and an excuse to celebrate >> S4

<<Yes, it helps the identity of Lajeña and the rapprochement of the population towards the Patron Saint . . . >> S14

In terms of gastronomy, typical local dishes are the best sellers at the celebrations, although an evolution is also noted as other types of products are introduced. For example, compared to alcoholic beverages such as chicha de jora, warinaque, or sugar cane liquor, beer and soda are also widely available. The same is true with respect to kitchen utensils, traditionally made with clay, are replaced with aluminum tools. Gastronomy is understood as an expression that unites and generates feeling and identity because behind each typical dish that is prepared, there are a series of cultural manifestations such as the preparation methods, supplies, ways of consuming, and serving (Figure 4) [47]. In these activities, each participant has a role, a skill, and together with other symbolic and sensory elements, each participant ensures that the difference between the country and city cuisine is noticeable; the transformation of the tangible and useful activities impacts techniques and lifestyles; for example, eating out more during the celebrations [48].

G

**Figure 4.** (**a**) The first image shows local people killing a pig (image 4). (**b**) shows the same process to cook the pork.

<<I believe that gastronomy unites the family, during the festival, the residents try to show off with the best typical dishes on their tables . . . >> S11

<<There are several [typical dishes] such as guinea pig with potatoes, chicharrón with cancha, and chiuche with milk. And to drink they always drink the chicha de Jora, the soft drink>> S6

<<I usually prepare the dishes the same way my mother-in-law taught me ... >> S11

<<I always cook, my mom taught me>> S3

<<Yes, I usually have my hidden secrets that my mother-in-law gave me>> S11

<<I have always used the pots and wooden sticks, but the pots have changed because there is no patience to cook with firewood>> S12

<<Yes, in fact, almost all year round, our dishes are based on Lajeño products and rice, which is one of the few products that are brought from the coast>> S15

In terms of music, between 2003 and 2005, the most popular traditional music genres were the yaravi, huayno, and marinera (Figure 5) played by local groups.

**Figure 5.** Northern Marinera, dance folk (2012).

The music in Lajas between 2003 and 2005 included huayno (Figure 6) and local rhythms with percussion and wind instruments. Local groups played musical rhythms without lyrics, sometimes accompanied by clapping and whistling. Their members wore traditional clothing at festivals in Lajas, such as ponchos, hats, and belts.

**Figure 6.** Huayno, dance folk. (2003).

Commencing in 2006, after participation by the invited musical groups, with increasingly modern instruments and equipment, better sound, and popular lyrics, nationally recognized songs began to dominate, thus leading to a change in the preferences in the town of Lajas, along with increased attendance. In fact, beginning in 2006, musical groups from other cities were hired, thereby introducing other genres such as cumbia or sanjuanera music, with Colombian and Ecuadorian influences. Like gastronomy, traditional genres are a part of a cultural heritage and social cohesion [6,17,63]. Therefore, their loss may risk the social structure of Lajas, which may see their collective identity compromised [45,46,64]. Music and dance in Lajas are the product of a cultural fusion where the inhabitants within this dynamic of social interaction with other cultures have decided what to take, keep, or change, considering the rhythm of socialization with external cultures, their dependence on power, and the intensity of communication between them [57].

The level and mode of the population's participation in religious activities have also evolved. Some ceremonies such as baptisms and weddings increase during the celebrations. While the religious spaces have not undergone changes, the number of people interested in these celebrations has decreased compared with an increase in those only interested in entertainment.

Religion as a part of the cultural identity in Lajas is observed in the devotion to San Antonio de Padua, particularly in adults and seniors who also, while in the minority, maintain close ties with the church outside the celebrations. The San Antonio de Padua festival is held in religious spaces that are considered sacred, such as churches, chapels, or areas designated to worship San Antonio wherein there are no changes in terms of symbolism, images, songs, and rituals such as marriages and baptisms. However, since 2011, a decrease in the congregation was identified, particularly regarding the attendance of young people at church and scheduled religious events, while popular festivals and recreational activities are more popular. While this central aspect plays a fundamental role in the festival, religious traditions are shared through family heritage and this cultural manifestation is lived passionately by those who practice it within their own space and time [29]. The community's current expression has been built up on this aspect [30,31], in addition to the values developed in the Lajas community as a part of its sociocultural structure [14].

<<I manifest my faith by going to mass and praying for my family. Also, I attend the religious activities that I am invited to, when there are baptisms or marriages and to make the rosary in the Church. >> S6

<<I go to mass and light my candles to Saint Anthony of Padua in the church>> S11

<<Well, with my family I go to mass and sometimes to the processions. Those who mostly go to mass are adults. >> S6

Participation from the population is very important in all the above-mentioned activities. Both among parish and civic groups, the San Antonio de Padua festival has been determined based on the community's decisions through its representatives. In 2009, however, the festival began to be exclusively organized by a municipal committee, which designs and establishes the festival's program, along with the church, thus not involving the population. In fact, since the festival's inception, the population has been directly involved in religious and cultural activities. While this was still the working methodology in 2003, the progressive changes identified in the festival's organization have made the residents resemble more spectators than organizers. In this sense, the municipality's responsibilities increase as a managing body that undertakes the administrative roles, thereby controlling the activities with economic benefits and an opportunity to enact and implement tourismrelated policies [52]; these celebrations thus act as an identifying trait of Lajas within the town's entertainment and tourism activities. Thus, for example, until 2013, the arena was made of wood and built by the inhabitants of Lajas themselves. As visitors increased, the arena was built with cement and was built by the local government.

<<I have not participated, because there is no custom and the contestants are in charge of public institutions and organizations such as the glass of milk of the communities. >> S10

<<The residents don't take care of that, the municipality has a group of people who organize the party every year. >> S11

<<Yes, we come to parade with our banner and our funds>> S2}

As a result of these policies, we must address the population's loss of interest and knowledge in managing and conserving their cultural assets, thus leaving it in the hands of the public administration [65]. Cultural identity and citizen participation demonstrate a dialog and interaction without social classes where social resilience in the face of change allows social structure and group identity to be reorganized and maintained [49]; in addition, this helps decentralize power among local authorities and connects the population's requirements to the public administration, as it fosters an understanding of the local reality through the population's opinion, thereby facilitating better decision-making when formulating public policies [50].

#### **4. Conclusions**

This study revealed several interesting issues. Moreover, two perspectives can be accepted as the most important: on the one hand, the evidence of cultural change in natural, dynamic, and evolutionary ways [66] and, on the other hand, the impacts of that change depending on the speed of its development, which was swift in our study, and the risk of losing the community's identity or of the community's cultural assets not being preserved that this aspect implies. However, there is a clear need to conduct an in-depth study to identify exactly what assets would comprise the Lajas cultural heritage and the opportunity to establish shared management with the municipality.

During the religious San Antonio de Padua celebrations, progressive interaction between the residents and the visitors is seen, which has resulted in some changes. In 2003, a large part of the population attended the festival for religious purposes, dressed in traditional local clothing, and the visitors' presence was less. However, the increased entertainment activities and the number of outsiders and the continuous influence of the external subcultures [16,22] led to frequent encounters and cultural changes [60]. Social interactions during the San Antonio celebrations reflect cultural manifestations that are changing as the community builds its own interindividual and collective identity models within its territory [7,12,13,23,39,57,60]. The population of Lajas is redesigning and creating its own celebration style, and this sociocultural process where social structures (residents versus other subcultures) combine to create new hybrid structures (García cited in Côté [56]). We may be facing a trend, i.e., inclining toward new forms of local expressions but with less of its own elements (or new elements of their own) that identify them, thus breaking the balance that must exist between valuing local elements and knowing how to interact with the external elements [12,34,36,39].

For example, with music, when a community identifies itself with local melodies, harmonies, and rhythms with their common and specific features [11,17] and, at the same time, accepts the blend of modern musical rhythms (regardless of whether traditional music is intended for cultural, religious, civic, or celebratory events and modern music is accepted for celebrations and fun), these aspects already reflect that, as a community, they are open to the possibility of adapting and building their own cultural identity in their territory through constant communication and social, cultural interdependence, etc. As Heisey [1] mentioned, cultural identity can even be globalized within a local context, and something similar occurs with religious identity, which, while it expresses beliefs and is established around different forms of organization and ethical norms, also includes more psychological aspects such as a community's mindset, in addition to an individual's mindset [16,27,28]. These remaining customs would affect the loss and transformation of the very spaces built to celebrate these religious activities, further affecting their authenticity [30,31,67].

This current reality, as Le bon [59] indicated, is the product of social adaptation to visitors' customs (a new influential social group), which are influenced by the atmosphere present during the festival.

As a future proposal, we must analyze ways in which the population accepts these changes. Answering this question will thus enable us to make proposals to manage Lajas resources. The progressive changes in the San Antonio's Lajas celebrations by municipal authorities (while these authorities are a part of the society and are an accepted and endorsed reflection by it as mentioned by Favre, Swedlow, and Verweij [61]) are creating new types of structure and power relations aimed in all probability to control and project an institutional image of the community.

The recent breakdown process, which has distanced the population from organizing and making decisions on the celebrations, should be reversed, and the population should be involved in the democratic municipal decisions. These aspects will help connect the people's demands to their representatives to improve joint decision-making [50,51]. To achieve this, the population needs to once again assume responsibility for promoting transparency within the reach of the population that participates in exercising power in the local management discussions and plans [51] through dialog and interaction without social classes, thereby enabling local communities to value themselves and be resilient to change their structure and identity as a social group and thus be able to organize themselves despite changes over time [49].

Finally, with a cultural celebration, it is important that people have knowledge and awareness of traditional events that have been discontinued or changed. Each person must understand and be aware of the importance of cultural heritage [24]. Cultural heritage is a part of the individual, national, regional, and local identities. It is also essential to understand the historical past and the fragility of intangible cultural heritage. Thus, knowledge begins with the criteria from each person or agent who intervenes in local development, being perceptible and realistic, and knowing their physical environment (Hoffman and Prakash as cited in Jansen [68]). This aspect would help to avoid indifferent behaviors toward conserving cultural heritage. The interviews conducted for this study demonstrate that the population is still aware of the changes in the celebrations in Lajas as a result of cultural and entertainment activities that have occurred over the past 15 years, as a part of the local management, the interaction between cultures from its own environment, recognizing changes in music, or attendance at religious events. Therefore, instead of focusing on managing the celebration in terms of increasing the gap, emphasis should be placed on sensitizing the local population on using and managing its resources.

By adopting different cultural expressions, the people of Lajas change and adapt because a transitive process (transculturation) from one culture to another, thus creating new cultural phenomena [53]. They are aware of changes in their cultural expressions [20], and it is possible they will enjoy them. They know that with some scheduled activities, their social interactions are strengthened, particularly where they can express their musical, gastronomic, and religious traditions. This is part of the premises of the study by Morley et al. [13], a context where cultural manifestations are in constant interaction and constant change and evolution. However, this requires a more in-depth study of social perception to help us understand what is the real impact of the cultural change that we have observed in this exploratory study, including variables with which we can measure whether or not there is discontent among the population. The result would probably give us non-balanced scenarios on which to act and provide solutions.

These expressions are a part of their authentic intangible heritage [69]. It is necessary to analyze their past as a collective memory to date [21]. To achieve this, the population needs to participate in the democratic management channels and once again participate in this exercise of transparency in the local management [51,70,71].

Clearly, Lajas is attracting a greater number of visitors from its nearby territories. This aspect certainly requires local management strategies to be sought, which safeguard and boost its traditions as a resource. In-depth research on its assets also needs to be conducted to best adapt to modernity and economic knowledge of the environment that shows economic potential as a resource in the town's growing demand for entertainment. Studying the celebrations undoubtedly represents a starting point to reflect on the identity of the town of Lajas. It also establishes the basis for presenting management alternatives and appropriate transmission of traditions, in addition to researching potential visitors and the benefits for the entire community.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, writing—review and editing, draft preparation, M.A.R.P. and L.G.V.; methodology, validation, and formal analysis M.A.R.P. and E.M.P.G.; supervision, C.P.T.d.O.; funding acquisition, M.A.R.P. and C.P.T.d.O. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by Cesar Vallejo University, grant number N◦292-2022-VI-UCV code P-2022-27.

**Data Availability Statement:** The most detailed sequence of photographs regarding cultural change, documented by the research team, can be found at: https://bit.ly/3EriPa4 (accessed 26 December 2022). **Acknowledgments:** To the community of Lajas, in the region of Cajamarca, province of Chota, for all the support provided for the photographic evidence, oral testimonies and documents collected during the years 2003 to 2018.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

### **References**


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