Peru: a way of offering to satisfy mother earth

Since ancient times, civilizations and communities have established a unique link between the way of communicating with each of the aspects that compose the “fertile land”, and that her fertility depends on their beliefs, of the offerings that demonstrate the veneration to her.

The rituals that take place in some of the main and most cultural cities of the Andean country, are a living portrait of the ancestral ceremonies of the ancient people, which, although it seems uncertain, are practiced today by the same people who have been transferred for centuries of generations and that live and breathe every day the true Andean culture.

It is called as Haywaikuy, which are offerings to the land or Pachamama, named after the ancient Incas who in their beliefs of having good harvests provide offerings of various kinds; now this custom has spread to the central Andes of South America.

Representation of Pachamama in the cosmology according to Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua 1613, according to an image in the Temple of the Sun Qurikancha in Cusco

An ideology composed of the symbolic representations of nature: as the main source the Inti or sun (one of the most important entities), Mother Nature or Pachamama (responsible for fertility) and the Apus (spirits that inhabit the mountains); all this mixture of supernatural powers are what move these people to have that great veneration and to serve the great deities as they describe them.

Offerings to the land can vary from coca leaves (for the Andean cosmovision are the mediators between nature and human) variety of cereal seeds, unworked silver, sullus (fetuses of llamas or sheep), chicha, wine, fat of animals, sweets and huairuros (red and black seeds with symbolic and magical powers).

This is a rite that begins on the first day of the month of August and continues throughout this month, which is when the earth needs to be nourished, that is why the importance of offering cults at this time. While there are some cities where this ritual is practiced, we mention one of the best known, which is Cusco, where the “altomisayoq” or “yatiri” who is a person who can communicate with the spirit world offers the “Tribute” and then everyone gathers and asks in prayers for theirs or for themselves. The deities are represented as Apus and Pachamama (symbol of masculinity and femininity).

Pisac preserves the ancestral traditions with festivals on the date of the solstice

From the sixteenth century to the contemporary era rituals still retain their same intention, to thank mother earth for the gifts she gives us, such as food. These offerings have an origin and although they could come from anywhere, it is a fact that these customs make Peru an intriguing country, that keeps many secrets and that also shows us some of them.

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This article that an official source for Kawsaypaq

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