"While much of the world marks Christmas with family meals and carols, communities in the Andean highlands of Peru observe the season with Takanakuy, a centuries-old tradition in which men and women settle personal and communal disputes through ritualised, bare-knuckle fights. Footage captured on Thursday shows participants in colourful traditional dress, with braided hair and bandaged hands, greeting one another respectfully before stepping into the ring. The bouts are watched by villagers and accompanied by music, dance, food and local drinks. Residents say the custom helps preserve social order by allowing grievances to be aired and resolved before the new year begins. “It is a tradition that only takes place at Christmas, because during the year, people have problems and the solution to those problems is on 25 December. There we solve things fist to fist, and that is it, the one who wins, wins and the one who loses, loses, and after everything we hug each other,” said Juvenal Dominguez, a Takanakuy participant. There are no weapons and no verbal abuse. Fights are brief and governed by clear rules: when one person falls, the other stops. Opponents then embrace as the crowd applauds. The aim, locals say, is not humiliation but closure, ending cycles of resentment before the year turns. “Before, there were no judges, there were no authorities. The solution was like this, pact to pact, and that was the end of it. If you beat me, you beat me; if I beat you, I win, that is the solution, you earn respect,” Dominguez added. The word Takanakuy comes from Quechua, meaning 'to hit each other'. The practice is most strongly associated with the Chumbivilcas province in Peru’s Cusco region and is widely believed to have taken shape during the colonial era, when Indigenous and enslaved communities lacked access to formal legal systems. Over time, it became a deeply rooted communal ritual, blending conflict resolution with festivity and tradition."