Dancers from various Indigenous communities of Mexico took part on Saturday in a music and dance festival along a central avenue in downtown Mexico City.

The festival, held to celebrate the Day of Indigenous Peoples, turned the city center into a carnival parade.

Alejandro Orozco, a painter from Michoacan who participated in the celebrations, praised the quality of the designs and the craftsmanship involved in an event of this kind.

"Let's not be fooled by Chinese products, which are now lowering our sales of handicrafts made by the hands of our artisans who create all the costumes," Orozco said.

For teacher Belén Martínez from Mexico City, the festival is an opportunity to enjoy the true culture of the country’s Indigenous peoples.

"They are the originals, the real ones. They show us the real roots," she said.

On December 23, 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared that August 9 would be observed as the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sets out the individual and collective rights of Indigenous populations, in particular their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health, and education.

AP video by Amaranta Marentes