Inti Raymi II

I promised more about Inti Raymi in my last post … but the time came and went, and life and work got busy, so I’m only just getting back to that promise. And, in fact, I blogged about Inti Raymi last year – see here http://sconzani.blogspot.com/2011/06/inti-raymi.html – so I won’t actually write much about the event this year.

Instead, I’ll share some photos of the sacred yet profane, solemn yet noisy, almost overwhelmingly colourful event that is the modern re-enactment of the Inca mid-winter solstice celebrations here in Cusco.

The day began at what used to be the Intikancha or Temple of the Sun, but is now called Qorikancha. A large crowd of tourists and locals gathered on all available vantage points to watch the festivities.

This is the WillaqUma, the high priest of the Inca empire. His place was at the top of the only existing wall of the original Inca temple – labelled the apse in my Inti Raymi guide book. He performed various sacred rites, scattering water and food items, presumably as offerings to the gods.

These are some of the sub-priests, who were performing rituals at the foot of the apse.

The Inka (i.e. the Inca emperor) then appeared on top of the apse, to cheers and applause from the Peruvians in the crowd. After scattering seeds, he chanted the salute to the sun: ‘My sun! My father! With great joy we salute you, delighting in the solace of your great light. My sun! My father! My sun! My father! You give strength to the whole world. Sharing with us your warmth! My sun! My father!’

He then tossed his small bowl of corn to the priests stationed below the apse, who broke off kernels of that corn and gave them to the Peruvians who crowded forward to receive these sacred offerings.

This concluded the ceremonies at the Intikancha and the performers then processed to the Plaza de Armas for the next stage of the re-enactment. The company consisted of the imperial army, the Inka and Qoya (the empress, wife and sister of the Inka) and their royal entourage, chosen women and princesses, the priests, musicians of various kinds (including the qhepa – flute – trumpet players and the pututeros – conch shell blowers), and those charged with sweeping the ground and strewing flowers in the street before the Inka.

A mummy from the Qorikancha museum was also brought out for an airing, as well as various bones from other dead Inca ancestors (you could see the small exhibit numbers written on the sides of these).

Whether or not this is a faithful re-enactment of the ancient solstice celebrations is debatable but it was certainly an extremely colourful procession.

Members of the imperial army

One of the army leaders rallying his troops

Qhepa players

A pututero, a player of the large trumpet-sounding conch shells

The man who played the Inka was a splendid performer - good looking, with a proud stance and noble bearing.

Members of another cohort of the imperial guard

When the saints go marching in …

We have just enjoyed the amazingly colourful spectacle of Corpus Christi here in Cusco, so I just had to use that title – because it’s true. The saints get marched out from their home churches and processed to the cathedral, where they remain for a week. Then, on the “octave”, the eight day, they get marched back to their home parishes again.

The Corpus Christi celebrations in Cusco are an unusual and complex blend of Catholic ceremony and Inca tradition. The timing of the Catholic festival, celebrated 60 days after the resurrection of Easter Sunday so falling between May and June, coincides with the high point of the Inca ceremonial calendar, when crops are being harvested and ceremonies are held to honour the Sun gods and Inca ancestors for their bounty. In fact, in Cusco the tradition of parading special beings dates back to the Inca festival of Q’ochakuy, when the mummified bodies of the ancestors were taken out and paraded through the streets. The Spaniards assimilated this Inca ceremony into their Catholic Corpus Christi ceremony and thus Cusco’s peculiar version of the celebration was born.

Fifteen saints and virgins from various parishes in and around the city are included in the processions: Saint Anthony from the San Cristobal parish; Saint Jerome from the suburb of San Jeronimo; Saint Christopher from the San Cristobal parish; Saint Barbara from the village of Poroy; Saint Anne from Santa Ana parish; Saint James the Greater from Santiago parish; Saint Blaise from the suburb of San Blas; Saint Peter from the parish of San Pedro; Saint Joseph from the parish of Belen; the Nativity Virgin from Almudena parish; the Remedies Virgin from the Santa Catalina monastery; the Purified Virgin from the parish of San Pedro; the Bethlehem Virgin from Belen; and the cathedral’s Immaculate Conception Virgin.

The religious of each parish honour their particular saint or virgin by adorning them with beautifully embroidered robes, and gold and silver jewellery, and each year one believer takes on the much-envied position of mayordomo, the person who organises the festival and cover the expenses it involves. The celebrations begin the day before Corpus Christi, when the various saints and virgins, some obviously extremely heavy, are carried from their parish churches sometimes many miles into central Cusco.

On Thursday, thousands of people flock to the Plaza de Armas to watch the main procession. From around 11am, a full Mass is celebrated outside the cathedral by Cusco’s archbishop and the various parish priests, then the procession begins. Leading the way is an impressive silver carriage carrying the monstrance from the cathedral, its golden sun representing the Holy Sacrament. Apparently, the original silver tower was built in 1733, of beaten silver over a cedar frame. These days it seems very incongruous to see this sacred object transported around the Plaza de Armas atop a motorised float, accompanied by the archbishop, his priests and various city and municipal authorities.

Next follow the fifteen saints and virgins, each carried by their faithful believers and accompanied by the mayordomo and the faithful of the parish, as well as musicians and dancers. It is a long, noisy and extremely colourful procession, combining the sacred traditions of Catholicism with the more lively celebrations of the Incas. At the end, the saints and virgins are returned to the cathedral, while the celebrants drift off to local plazas to feast on the traditional food of this time, chiriuchu (cold cuts of guinea pig, chicken, a kind of beef jerky and sausage on top of a bed of corn, with cheese from the Puno region, an omelette, and sea weed and fish eggs from the Pacific coast), and drink copious amounts of the local home brew, chicha.

Eight days later, on the "octave", the fifteen saints and virgins are marched back to their original parishes, amidst more music and dancing, and followed by plenty more feasting and drinking. And you’d think that would be it for another year … but, no! Each parish has its own special feast and celebration days during the year and, in Cusco, the festivities continue as, in just eight days, it will be Inti Raymi, the re-enactment of the Inca mid-winter solstice celebrations. More on that as it happens.

 

The Giving Lens comes to Cusco

Photography is one of my passions, and a week or so ago I was privileged and delighted to meet some of my heroes from the photography world. On behalf of Picaflor House, the project I manage here in Peru, I hosted a visit from a team of world-class photographers from The Giving Lens organisation. Founded by internationally renowned photographer/photo instructor, author and humanitarian Colby Brown, The Giving Lens focuses on blending photography education with giving back to local communities.

The Giving Lens offers photography workshops in various locations around the globe, where they work alongside local non-profit organisations that are doing exceptional work. These workshops are designed and led by Colby, who offers a unique and creative learning environment that not only showcases the latest in digital photography techniques but also emphasizes the importance of lending a helping hand to help make the world a better place for all life on this planet. What better combination!