{"id":16485,"date":"2026-06-04T00:29:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/peruvian-shamans-perform-a-blessing-ritual-ahead-of-a-presidential-runoff\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T00:29:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:59:24","slug":"peruvian-shamans-perform-a-blessing-ritual-ahead-of-a-presidential-runoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/peruvian-shamans-perform-a-blessing-ritual-ahead-of-a-presidential-runoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Peruvian shamans perform a blessing ritual ahead of a presidential runoff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_GK70XT8VWXa?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.1.5\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>LIMA, Peru (AP) \u2014 Peruvian shamans gathered on Monday for a blessing ritual for the two candidates <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/peru-presidential-election-fujimori-lopez-aliaga-62e0ed6d309530e9138a06254e2995f3\">in the country\u2019s presidential runoff<\/a> next weekend, a decisive vote for the South American country that has seen a revolving door of presidents kicked out of office over corruption scandals.<\/p>\n<p>The ritual is a tradition at the start of every year and before elections.<\/p>\n<p>The shamans gathered by the sea on Herradura Beach in the Chorrillos district in Lima, Peru\u2019s capital, holding up posters of the two candidates.<\/p>\n<p>The two \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/keiko-fujimori\">Keiko Fujimori<\/a>, the conservative daughter of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fujimori-peru-lima-died-777fdfcb09eafd731a7412c8bf1a2f64\">disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori<\/a>, and Roberto S\u00e1nchez, a nationalist congressman and former minister \u2014 are neck and neck in the polls and will face off on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Fujimori garnered just over 17% of the votes while S\u00e1nchez got about 12% in a crowded field of candidates in the first round of voting in April. That round was mired in logistical problems that left thousands in Peru and abroad unable to cast ballots. It then took weeks for the country\u2019s electoral body to finalize the two contenders for the runoff.<\/p>\n<p>In the blessing ritual, the shamans used flower petals, fruit, coca leaves and fragrant pieces of palo santo \u2014 or \u201choly wood\u201d in Spanish \u2014 as well as black tobacco, swords and dolls. They also lit colorful flares and banged drums.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ritual we perform is primarily intended to ensure that the best candidate is the one who represents our Peru,\u201d said shaman Andr\u00e9s de los Santos, who had traveled to Lima from the north of the country.<\/p>\n<p>Although the shamans made no forecasts this time, they have previously predicted the future. At the end of 2025, they predicted Venezuela\u2019s then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, now facing drug trafficking charges in the United States, would <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/peruvian-shamans-predictions-2026-nicolas-maduro-78a19e9b6cfa0765d1df0fa81a5d70ef\">no longer be in office by the end of 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The winner of the runoff will become Peru\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/peru-president-congress-interim-election-c6f1e2d6c061ea8ba1cb0f4f467609bc\">ninth president in just 10 years<\/a>, replacing <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/peru-president-congress-interim-election-c6f1e2d6c061ea8ba1cb0f4f467609bc\">Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Balc\u00e1zar<\/a>, who was elected interim president in February. Balc\u00e1zar replaced another interim leader, Jos\u00e9 Jer\u00ed, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/peru-jeri-president-congress-vote-8974236f989f7d9cbd8e54de7d3ef81e\">ousted over corruption allegations<\/a> just four months into his term.<\/p>\n<p>Peru\u2019s next president will be sworn in on July 28 for a five-year term.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Follow AP\u2019s Latin America coverage at <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/03\/peruvian-shamans-perform-a-blessing-ritual-ahead-of-a-presidential-runoff\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LIMA, Peru (AP) \u2014 Peruvian shamans gathered on Monday for a blessing ritual for the two candidates in the country\u2019s presidential runoff next weekend, a decisive vote for the South American country that has seen a revolving door of presidents kicked out of office over corruption scandals. The ritual is a tradition at the start [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}