Blacks and Whites' Carnival
Blacks' Day originally commemorated the day in which the African slaves had a free day, after the 1607 slave rebellion in the Colombian town of Remedios. It is said that when news reached Popayan, the African population there went to the streets and danced, and blackened all the white walls of that city with coal. In Pasto the celebration has probably taken place since 1857, when white people began to paint their faces black.