Torito de Pucará (Pucará Bulls) Painting Workshop

Parkway Central Library is hosting a Torito de Pucará painting workshop on Saturday, October 24, starting at 11 AM. The Consulate General of Peru in Paterson is running the session, and it's open to adults and children alike, so it's one of those things you can actually do with your kids rather than around them. Everyone gets their own ceramic bull to paint and take home.

If you've never come across them, the Toritos de Pucará are a Peruvian craft from the town of Pucará in the Puno region. These ceramic bulls, all bright colors and intricate patterns, go back to pre-Hispanic times and the Pucará culture, which flourished in the Peruvian highlands between 500 B.C. and 200 A.D. Tradition ties them to protection, prosperity, and fertility: they're typically placed on rooftops as amulets to attract good luck, abundant harvests, and household protection, with the bull acting as a guardian that wards off negative energies.

After the Spanish arrived, they were folded into Christian beliefs, where the bull came to symbolize sacrifice and spiritual strength. That's how the figure became an Andean cultural icon, blending ancient agricultural traditions with later religious influences. The workshop lets you get your hands on one of those traditions yourself—you'll spend the morning painting your own Torito and then take it home with you.

The workshop is in the Central Children's Story Hour Room, in the Children's Department on the ground floor (Room 22) of the Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, between 19th and 20th Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19103. It kicks off at 11 AM on Saturday, October 24.