Señor de Qoyllorit'i

Sr. de Qollor Riti
Source

How to explain Señor de Qoyllority? I don't really know. That's partly because I was unable to participate in the recent pilgrimage. That's also party because I don't think I'll ever understand Andean spirituality deeply enough to explain it to another person, let alone to feel like I get it myself. But I'll give it my best shot and if you want to know more you can ask Google to translate the wikipedia page.

Here's the official story: In 1780 a Quechua shepard boy named Mariano Mayta who lived way up in the mountains made a new friend. His new friend was a mestizo (mix of white and indigenous) named Manuel. Mariano's father was pleasantly surprised with the increase in income that his son's friend brought on the family and decided to buy Manuel some expensive new clothes from Cusco. So they headed to Ocongate.* The priest of Ocongate was looking for Manuel one day. When he found him, Manuel transformed into an image on a rock. Thus began a Quechua tradition of devotion to the image. The Catholic Church, a masterful organization when it comes to evangelizing by mixing in elements of a different culture, claimed that it was an image of the crucified Christ. Thus the image became known as el Señor de Qollorriti. Qoyllur is Quechua for star and Riti is Quechua for snow. So an English translation could be Our Lord of the Star in the Snows.

Source

El Señor de Qoyllur Rit'i is perhaps the biggest religious festical in the Southern Andes. The pilgrimage draws over 10,000 people. The most extreme version of the pilgrimage is a 24 hour walk. One of friends did the pilgrimage. He told us that he put his pack on a horse. The horses went a different route than his group. He sorely regreted giving the horse his pack when it started to rain and he didn't have a raincoat. The rain lasted an hour and a half. It's really cold high up in the mountains. But that's how strong the devotion to Señor de Q'oylloriti is.

After the pilgrimage, the Qollas (men who dance for the pilgrimage) danced outside the parish in Andhuaylillas. Here's some pictures. Unfortunately I only had my iPod with me, so they're not as high quality as usual.

The men come out in pairs and whip each other.
The idea is that it cleanses for the year to come. 

When it starts to get intense, someone else steps in to end the whipping.
The two men then hug each other and go back to their lines. Then two
more men come out and repeat the ritual.

PS - At some point while reading this you may have commented "Boy, Ben's really failing in the spelling department today." While there may be some English typos I missed, all the different spelling of Señor de Qoyllorit'i are correct. It's a Quechua name. As you may remember, Quechua doesn't have a standardized spelling the way English and Spanish do. All the different spellings I used are spellings I've seen on taxis, storefronts, and banners.

*Remember Ocongate? It's where I was in February helping out at the academic summer camp.