7 - Glaciers, the Colonial Archive and the Brotherhood of the Lord of Quyllur Rit’i

Summary

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the role of dance performances representing Amazonian identities in the annual Andean pilgrimage of Quyllur Rit’i, the most important annual religious pilgrimage in the southern Andes that involves devotional activities including dancing, singing, and dramatized life cycle events centered around both the glaciers and a Catholic shrine to a miraculous image. I argue that these performances allow for the interaction of territorial and ritual practices. My analysis of the history and context of these dances in the pilgrimage will bring into discussion how ethnic identities emerge in relation to places such as glaciers and changes in climate across both time and space.

Keywords: Andean Catholicism, Señor Quyllur Rit’I, Climate, Glaciers, Dancers

Situating the Pilgrimage and the Brotherhood

The Pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of the Lord of Quyllur Rit’i takes place every year in the region of Cuzco in the southern Peruvian Andes between late May and early June, before the celebration of Corpus Christi. During a week of celebrations, approximately 15,000 people visit the shrine, located at 4,650 meters, at the foot of the glacier Sinaqara in the Vilcanota valley, at the end of an eight km long, narrow canyon. Pilgrims arrive walking individually or in groups of kin and dancing ensembles, or comparsas, representing one of many naciones that make the pilgrimage to the shrine. Although the site itself is located in the district of Huaro, in the Quispicanchi province, pilgrims arrive from different locations throughout the Cuzco region and elsewhere in Peru. While most of the devotees arrive to the sanctuary on foot, some travel by van, bus, or car to Mahuayani, the nearest town accessible by paved road. Others travel by horse and some even carry family members who are too young, ill, or weak to reach the area where the dancing, singing, and praying takes place. It takes approximately four to five hours to walk to the sanctuary from Mahuayani, and much longer from the surroundings towns and villages.

The pilgrimage is situated in a geographical region where – from before the European invasion through the colonial period and independence – glaciers and humans have maintained a relationship in which their respective identities and personhoods are in constant exchange and association.