Andes area

Images of the Andes For the Andean people the universe formed a totality. Each of its parts, that is to say, nature, animals, gods and humans were inter-related.

Cosmovision and Art

This flux of energy also existed between the world of the living and the dead. Its gods, coming from nature, had a dual character of men and women at the same time,. The opposites complemented each other to create a balance. In this divine duality there was room both for creation and for destruction.

Men and women entered into dialogues with each part of nature so as to get closer to the knowledge of the human essence.

In search of the divine and the sacred was born the art as a vehicle for dialogue with the gods.

The cosmos was tripartite, the Incas recuperated and homogenised the Andes beliefs leaving the vertical universe in this way: the Hanan Pacha (celestial world) represented by the eagle or the condor; the Kai Pacha (terrestrial world) in which there is the puma or the jaguar, and the Ujku Pacha (underworld) where the snake lived.

These worlds were then divided into a long chain of dimensions that originated other worlds. And it was in these that the priests or Shamans moved. The Shaman, during dreams or in a trance, brought the word of the gods in a symbolic language that then revealed the message of the deities.

Of the objects used as means of religious expression it is worth noting the metals, textiles, birds feathers from the jungle, the stones, minerals and Spondylus Princeps.

The fabrics and pottery accompanies the dead in their tombs. It almost all the Andes area the dead body was places in a foetal position, to be reborn in a new life, and around it were placed the fabrics.

The spondylus (Red shelve bivalve) was considered a delicacy of the gods and to obtain it they had to dive in the Ecuadorian waters.

The metals, stones and minerals were sacred as they had been obtained from the bowels of the Pachamama or Madre Tierra (Mother Earth).

Of the metals, what was important was their colour, sound, movement and iconography. The movement was achieved thanks to the technique of laminating. With regard to colour they played with the alloys of metals and painted the surface of the pieces. And finally they managed that both the metals and the pottery reproduced the sounds of nature.

With the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors the imagined world, created during thousands of years became suspended in time, but currently the pre-Columbian thought continues alive in the indigenous communities.

cultural zone Andes area

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What remains today?

The festivity of the sun (Inti Raimy)

In the Andean tradition there exist four festivities related to the cycle of wheat that correspond temporarily to the solstices and equinoxes. Of these four celebrations, the most important during the Inca empire was the Inti Raymi (the festivity of the sun), the winter solstice.

This festivity took place each 21st June, the moment when the sun was furthest from the Andes. To avoid the supreme God Wiracocha becoming incarnated in the sun (Inti) he was lost in the immensity of the universe. Sapa Inca implored him from the Cusco. In this way, Inti once again got closer to Tahuantinsuyu to fertilise the earth so that the people had food. In this way the new solar year began.

With the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, this celebration was prohibited as it was considered to be pagan and contrary to the Catholic faith.

In 1944 some Peruvian intellectuals recuperated this festivity from history for the general public, but it move to the 24th June, coinciding with the day of Saint John.

Currently it has become a theatrical show, basically festive in character, but this doesn’t stop it being a form of vindication of the indigenous cultural legacy.

In the Inca era, the night before the chiefs gathered together from the whole empire in the square of Aucaypata de Cusco (currently the square of Armas).

The fires of all the houses of Tahuantinsuyu were extinguished and in the square of Cusco everybody waited, squatting and with their arms open, for the arrival of the sun. When it appeared, Sapa Inca toasted with chicha (maize liquor) in two cups of gold. He poured the cup in his right hand in honour of the sun and with his left hand took a sip and gave it out among the other Incas. Afterwards the new fire was lit using as a mirror the golden bracelet of the priest. This fire was carried to the Temple of the Coricancha, where the chiefs gave their offerings to Inti. Afterwards they returned to the square to sacrifice animals and do the prophecies.

Currently these events are acted out, but with some changes. The festivity starts in front of Coricancha where Sapa Inca, chosen in a contest, invokes the sun in Quechuan. Transported on a bed by the people from the ancient Inca territory, they go towards the Temple of Sacsayhuamán, where the spectators wait for the ceremony to begin. Sapa Inca invokes the sun as in the past. Afterwards come the dances, the music and, as the women chosen used to do to serve the Inca, chicha is given out and sweet corn bread.

Carnival of Oruro

According to legend, Wari (the man of the earthquakes) was woken up each morning by Inti Wara (the aurora). One day Wari tried to possess it but didn’t manage to do so, because her father (Inti) came to defend her. Angered, he took vengeance by corrupting the settlers of the region so that they abandoned the cult of the sun and the agricultural works. These settlers devoted themselves to mining and became lazy and surly.

Inti Wara approached a beautiful ñusta and they made him recuperate the solar rituals and taught them Quechua.

Wari took vengeance by sending a legion of ants, a giant toad, a monstrous lizard and an enormous snake. Inti Wara won, but to be able to escape from Wari she became the Virgin of the Socavón, patron saint of the miners.

Wari, beaten and humiliated, today inhabits the bowels of the earth, where he is god of the richness of the subsoil.

Wari became known as Tío; under the influence of the Catholic missionaries, this semi-God took on the aspect of a demon. He is represented with a body half human half animal and with a large phallus that symbolises his lustfulness.

So that Tío doesn’t get angry and doesn’t deprive them of the minerals or cause accidents in the mine, the miners offer him alcohol, coca, incense, and places lit cigarettes between his lips.

During the days of Carnival, the inhabitants of Oruro (Bolivia) and especially the miners, different events are carried out to honour Tió, the Virgin of the Socavón, the Pachamama and the protecting spirits of the mountains.

Among the activities that they carry out, there are pilgrimages, the giving of offerings, dances, processions, concerts, etc. One of the events is the wilancha, in which the earth is purified with the blood of animals, especially the llama. The karaku is the community food in which there is no lack of legends, alcohol and the sacred leaf (coca).

In the Andes, the coca is the basis of the traditional indigenous medicine, but also symbolises the communication with everything that is divine, which makes it the best offering for the gods.

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