There have been festivals and fireworks on everyday in Cusco this month. The Plaza de Amas is always crowed with festivities.
The main festival for the year is INTI RAYMI held in honour of the Sun. It is an old Inkan festival and is still held in very high regard amongst Peruvians.
The whole of Cusco closes and attends the procession along with hundreds of tourists.
The choose an Inkan King (usually an elder of true Inkan decent)son of the sun father of the multitudes, to lead the procession. There is alot of pomp and ceremony and a cast of thousands. The procession starts at Intikancha (the Temple of the Sun) and proceeds to Haukaypata in the plaza de amas where there is more pomp and ceremony and thanks giving to the sun. After that they move onto Saqsaywaman (pronounced sexywoman) a huge old Inkan site, where there were literally millions of people waiting for the main event. They make offerings to the sun amid much dancing and ceremonial beating of drums and blowing of conche shells.
We arose at 6am to arrive at the site, by walking up lots of very steep stairways through the town up to the mountain which overlooks Cusco to where the main and final ceremony would take place at 2pm. A very long wait. There were already lots of people there and we staked out our area on the hill overlooking the site in readiness. But in true Peruvian style the minute things started to happen all that went to the dogs and it was a free for all. We could have bought tickets for US100 but we chose to sit with the plebs. It was much more interesting. The area we were in was more tourists, but the area which the locals claim as their own was an experience to walk through. They were cooking food for the picnic and some of the stuff they had there I had never seen before but it looked very interesting and if I wasn´t so obsessed with germs I would love to have tried some of it. They had roasted coy (guinea pig), lots of different fried things, all sorts of nuts and seeds and the local home made alcohol (chicha) made from maize (not something I will be trying anytime soon).
At 2pm the procession arrived and the main ceremony began for the offerings to the Sun God. The Inka arrived, preceded by the women who sweep the ground before him, accompanied by all his entourage and hundreds of dancers and musicians.
The offerings started with Coca leaves and asking the Sun God for advice.
The Inka invites the Lords from the four regions of the Empire to report on their regions and they ask the Sun for better days.
After this they have the Chicha rite and the ritual of the sacred fire then they sacrifice the llama (we´re still not sure if they really killed him - it was all very cloak and dagger). After this the Sun God´s advice is revealed, and that is: to govern with prudence, justice and honour.
They then purify themselves with the rite of the Sankhu made from the whitest corn of the harvest. They thank the Sun God for his kindness with more dancing and musical ceremony. The dancing is a sight to behold and the archaeological site where it is held is magnificent.
The crush to exit the site and get back down the steps to Cusco was mind blowing. To look back from a distance, as we descended the hill behind the site, was like watching an ant hill on the move.
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