|
|
The double-peaked snowcap Paria Caca, seen toward sunset from the heights of Carhuamayo. Paria Caca was worshiped by Inkas, Yauyos, and other ethnic groups as the a great deity. Spanish priests wrecked his shrine, but the Inka road which led travelers past Paria Caca to Cusco still exists.
|
The author of this site, Frank Salomon, center, with his host Don Justo Peña Zacarías, right, and traveling companion Eduardo Chulán. The baby alpaca, abandoned by his mother, became Don Justo's pet. His name is Wachu. Don Justo lives with his herds on the high slopes near Paria Caca Mountain.
|
|
|
In Tupicocha, the 5th of January each year, the Curcuches descend from the heights with gifts of medicinal herbs. The Curcuches in their costumes are at the same jokesters who spoof the villagers, and representatives of the mountains' sacred power. Tupicocha has two societies of Curcuche dancers, one for odd and one for even years.
|
Tupicochan members of the odd-year ritual society AgrRcola dance as they await the arrival of the Curcuche dancers. They show off bags of coca leaf, tobacco and liquor with which they will favor the dancers. Dancing with coca bags is a rite mentioned many times in the ancient Quechua manuscript written near here. Local women make sicra bags from agave fiber and cushuri bags from artificial fiber. Many people active in the ritual societies live most of the years as migrants in the the city of Lima.
|
|
|
Members of Concha peasant community open a new potato field on communal land on the slopes of Concha Sica. The men break ground with the Andean foot plow or chaki taklla, while the woman sows.
|
When the villagers of Concha Peasant Community round up their cattle to brand them (notice branding iron on ground) they also bring wool to make brilliantly-colored ear tassels and coca leaves to consecrate the work. Men and women will dance separately in honor of the animals' welfare. Like the ancient llama herders of the Huarochiri Quechua Manuscript, modern cowboys cut notches in the animals' ears to indicate ownership, and dispose of the cut pieces sacrificially.
|
|
|
In the elementary school at San Damian, the principal holds a an ancient mummified child looted from a prehispanic tomb. The prehispanic burial caves and the chaucallas or ancient burial houses, though badly damaged both by colonial persecutors of Andean "idolatry" and by modern treasure hunters, still hold the bones of "the beautiful grandparents".
|
On the Day of the Dead, Tupicochanos like millions of other Latin Americans visit the tombs of their family. They bring food, drinks, and candles, turning the cemetary into a fairyland of flickering light and warm sociability. Don Benigno Alberco, an elder of ayllu Chaucacollca (right) presides over this gathering.
|
|
|
Huarochiri people call the llama-alpaca herders who live on the highest slopes gualachos. This herding couple met a warm welcome as they brought their caravan to mid-altitude Quinti village. There, the herders have customary trading partners who barter their corn and other crops for handmade animal products like the fine cordage visible in the picture.
|
Rosaria Alejandro of San Damián town is a sheep-wool weaver. She uses the callhua or Andean backstrap loom to make the small cloaks that women don against the evening chill. The garment is always black, whith one wide band of multicolor decoration illuminating each side.
|
|
|
In Tupicocha village, the societies which sponsor festivals, and the ayllus or corporate kin groups finance their ceremonies by collecting pledges. When a person makes a pledge, she or he takes home a portable sacred object called a limanda. The small crucifix, the picture of Jesus, and the wooden rooster are limandas of ayllu Segunda Satafasca (a group of precolumbian origin, according to the Quechua manuscript). By displaying these in his home, the pledger remembers the debt and also reminds visitors of his friendship with the group. When the donor pays the pledge, he also returns the limanda.
|
The people of Huarochiri are tireless travelers. Many go to Lima weekly. This Santa Maria bus toils up and down the steep road from Sunicancha to the Lima neighborhood of Cruz de Yerbateros. On this special trip, however, the passengers are high schoolers returning to San Damián after their graduation trip to Cusco. The graffiti celebrate their travels.
|
