Want good luck for 2017? Try rubbing this hairy armadillo in your face!

2016 was a year filled with major and unexpected changes, and some people are turning to old rituals and traditions in the hope that 2017 will turn out better.

People in Peru have their own New Year's good luck ritual, and it basically involves allowing a shaman to rub a hairy armadillo all over their body.

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People flocked to the "Wishes Fair" in the Peruvian capital of Lima over the weekend so that shamans could perform rituals to cleanse them of their bad vibes and to bring prosperity in the New Year.

Native healers known as Curanderas cleansed some visitors by rubbing an Andean hairy armadillo on their hair, chest, and face.

Other rituals offered by the native healers included showering customers with flower petals, which promised to purify the body and free the owner from envy and bad thoughts.

Visitors could also buy fake money to place on the deity Ekeko, the Tiwanakan god of abundance and prosperity, to attract good fortune in the New Year.

Many of the traditions of the people of the Andes mountains have survived from the times of the Incas and shamans living in the mountains pass on their rituals by word of mouth.

This area has been home to many mysterious ancient cultures which have left behind ruins that continue to puzzle archaeologists to this day.


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