Overview
- The holiday was created by a supreme resolution signed by President Manuel Prado Ugarteche on October 18, 1944, which fixed October 31 as the annual observance.
- The resolution said promoting popular art would help build a nationalist consciousness and asked institutions to stimulate public expressions of local music.
- The first celebration began with flag-raisings in Lima and Callao and ended with a presidential-attended concert at the Centro Social Musical “Carlos A. Saco” that ran into the early hours.
- The observance covers canción criolla as an umbrella of coastal and mestizo forms — including vals peruano, marinera, huayno and tondero — rooted in Spanish, indigenous and African influences and performed by artists such as Óscar Avilés and Augusto Polo Campos.
- Contemporary coverage ahead of October 31, 2026, frames the day as a family-oriented moment of concerts and communal gatherings that keeps a long-standing civic and cultural ritual alive.