Inti Raymi

Wednesday, June 24^th was Inti Raymi, the Incan festival of salutation to the sun god. It's a regional holiday, so I had the day off. I went into Cusco Tuesday night and stayed with my host family so that we could get up early and go watch Inti Raymi downtown.

Inti Raymi today is similar to the battle reenactments common in the US. People aren't actually performing with religious intent. It's a show that preserves history and cultural heritage. The Spanish banned the Inti Raymi during the colonial period. Because the Incas didn't keep written records that means that the ceremony performed last Wednesday was not the exact ceremony that the Incas performed pre-Pizarro.

warriors coming down the street to the Koricancha

The performance covers three sites in Cusco – the Koricancha,* the plaza, and Secsaywaman.** We watched the opening ceremony at the Koricancha (we rented chairs from a lady to be able to stand up and see over the crowd) and then skipped past the plaza to climb up to the fort. You can pay premium price for seating on the green, or you can do what we did and sit with the crowd above the fort for free. We sat in the sun with the massive crowd and joked and shared chicharrón (fried pork), bread, fruit, and cookies (that I baked in the microwave because the ovens in Andahuaylillas were closed).

Koricancha ceremony

Koricancha ceremony

The Inca and his group arrived an hour late. At 1 on the dot (when the Inca was scheduled to arrive), people in the crowd started whistling and shouting out “Hora, hora!” (Time, time!). That amused me, because Peruvians are never on time. Why they expected the Inca to show up at 1 when the whole country seems to run at least 30 minutes late is beyond me.

climbing to the Secsayhuaman

The Inca arriving at Secsayhuaman

Ceremony at Secsayhuaman

The ceremony finally did start at 2. We stayed till 3 and then climbed down to Cusco to eat dinner and head home. It was a really wonderful day with wonderful people. I was so glad to see my host family because I haven't seen them since late April. Hopefully the next time I see them won't be so long from now.

Felix (host father) and Yesi (host sister)

Family Selfie
Julia (host mother), Felix (host feather), Yesi (host sister), me

*the temple of the sun god which is now the parish/convent of San Domingo.

**the Incan fort above Cusco