There is no actual prize at La Bajada de Reyes in Cangallo, my mother's hometown in Ayacucho — but every January, the dancers compete anyway. The tradition closes the Peruvian Christmas season: the ritual taking-down of the baby Jesus from the nativity scenes families have kept on display since December, observed across the country in the days after Epiphany. In the Andes, what arrived as a Spanish Catholic rite met the dances and rhythms already living here, and the result is this. Six families open their doors. The arpa tunes up. Dance groups travel from house to house, performing in front of each home's Niño Jesús. The Damas Cangallinas arrive in pairs, slender and flirtatious, their colorful veils signaling purity. The Varones come stamping, Los Machos close behind, the harpist carrying his enormous instrument from doorway to doorway, the chicha passing freely. Whoever stamps hardest, whoever charms the crowd most, wins — though the only real prize is the audience's noise and the satisfaction of having honored el Niño one more time.