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Many shudder at the sight of the serpent. It is an enigmatic creature, remaining oblivious to the profound meanings and spiritual symbolism it embodies.

The Serpent in Andean Cosmovision and Mythology

It held a sacred role, offering profound insights into life’s cycles, the interconnectedness of all existence, and the timeless essence of the cosmos.

The culture of Tiahuanaco preserved this evolutionary line and scattered its seeds to the valleys of Cusco. With the Incas, it maintained “the silence in its voice,” a voice that emerges and flows eternally through the centuries.

We awaken your curiosity, inviting you to begin an energetic transmission of the serpent.

Click the link below and embark on a powerful journey of transformation.

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References:

• Merejildo, J.A (1997). The awakening of the puma. An initiatory path. Astronomical evidence in the Andes. Chaski. Cusco, Perú.

Cusco, Living Culture

Qosqo is an ancient city founded by Manco Capac and shaped by Incas like Pachacutec. It endures into the 21st century, continuing the rules of its powerful past.

This incomparable city still lives under the early breath of the cold mountain mist. It continues to measure its time with the rise and set of the Inti (Sun).

Cusco lives its own life, and its destiny is intrinsically linked to ours. We all owe it our attention. We must ensure its survival and take an active interest in how it’s treated. From urban development to landscape, as well as in its reconstruction and restoration.

Principles of Andean People

Mother Earth is the one who gives life to man, she is the supreme divinity in our world.

Pachamama taught us to love everything unconditionally. She showed us that work is a great virtue, because by loving everyone and building with our work, we become wise.

Pachamama gave us these life teachings for our understanding; she gave us:

Rules of MUNAY (love)

Man does not need other laws or commandments, because LOVE makes us aware of the service that should always be the essence of the being

Rules of LLANKAY (work)

Since service is the consciousness of reciprocity or WORK.

Rules of YACHAY (wisdom)

Be sure that love and work will lead us to the higher consciousness of knowledge or WISDOM.

In our history these three laws appeard: “AMA SUA”, “AMA LLULLA”, “AMA QUELLA”. “Do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy.”

But, what reason would we have to teach a high society like the Andean one to “not steal,” if this society knows that everything belongs to Pachamama?

If this society lives by the communal principle of “all for one, and one for all,” if this society lives by the principle of service—”today for you, tomorrow for me”—what need is there to steal in a society where the child born will have their own land to work?

Why steal in a society where the possibility of dying from hunger was neither allowed nor imaginable, because food distribution and preservation were organized in an unexpected way?

We know that Mother Pachamama is the mother of purification, of cleanliness, and perhaps of forgiveness.

We have begun a new era, and in this era of light, all brothers and sisters are welcome.

Let us allow Wiracocha to touch our inner sun, so that love with consciousness may blossom, and we may become the people of the new time.

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References:

• Merejildo, J.A (1997). The awakening of the puma. An initiatory path. Astronomical evidence in the Andes. Chaski. Cusco, Perú.

Wiracocha is the creator, and at the same time, civilizer and civer of light to the world.

Wiracocha is God

When creating humanity, He ordered them to spread across different places—be they mountains, lakes, rivers, caves, etc. To turn these places of origin into sacred centers or Pakarinas.

Wiracocha represents the universe with all its manifestations, and Western religion has often confused and misinterpreted these, attributing a polytheistic concept of divinity to Andean spirituality.

Wiracocha is the invisible God, and His physical manifestation for the Andean people was Inti, the Father Sun.

Wiracocha’s names

• When people referred to him as the creator of the universe, they called him Wiracochayacháchic, meaning Wiracocha, the maker or teacher of the universe.

• When people said that he was Wiracochapachayacháchic, or simply Pachacamac, they meant that he was the teacher or creator of our land.

• They could also refer to his creative action in making humanity, calling him Runahuallpa (from *huallpani*: to form, to create, or to raise).

• Finally, when it was said Illa Tecce Wiracocha, it referred to his action of creating light.

Historical sources indicate that Wiracocha reached the Incas through the influence of Tiahuanaco. This god was the first divinity of the Tiahuanacos. He came from the famous Lake Titicaca, from where he emerged to create the sky and the earth.

Let us allow Wiracocha to touch our inner sun and awaken love with consciousness, so that we may become the people of the new time.

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References:

Merejildo, J.A (1997). The awakening of the puma. An initiatory path. Astronomical evidence in the Andes. Chaski. Cusco, Perú.

Rivara de Tuesta, M.L (2000). Pensamiento prehispánico y filosofía colonial en el Perú. Lima, FCE, Tomo I, pp. 98-132.

Master Raul in a cleansing ceremony

The other day we went to do a cleansing ceremony (Pichay) and a call for encouragement (Waqhay). Maestro Raul drove with caution in the busy Cusco morning traffic.

After our conventional conversations, I became very interested in his thoughts on the Catholic religion.

I mentioned how the white and red wine used in his ceremonies reminded me of church masses, which sparked our discussion on the topic.

He told me that as a child in the community of Kiko, he knew a Danish father who respected local traditions. This father wore an unku (bag), celebrated masses in Quechua, donned the community’s poncho, and chewed coca.

Paqos believe in Jesus and God

This is how the maestro Raul decided to become a catechist and says “I also like Jesus”.

Likewise, the teacher recalled his grandfather, who would exclaim prayers to the angels and the Our Father. He asked for blessings from above and the stars, emphasizing that we are united as Catholics and Paqos.

The transcultural clash between the Andean and Christian world was undoubtedly a struggle of dialogues and also of linguistic misunderstandings. Anyway states Brosseder, (2018) that the Andean and Catholic concepts were not very different from each other.

For Catholics, the entities centered on God, while for the Andeans, trust resided in nature (the sun, moon, huacas, and more).

I believe, like Raul, that there are no contradictions between the Christian and Andean traditions, especially in their ethical bases. The Andean man had to adapt and integrate elements to his already known rituals without losing that Andean logic.

Although colonial authorities viewed indigenous people as irrational and linked them to the devil, Favaron (2023) notes that they understood the fundamental tenets of the new faith:

to love your neighbor as yourself and God above all things (p. 77).

Author: Joan de la colina Román

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References:

• Brosseder, C. (2018). El poder de las huacas: Cambios y resistencia en los Andes del Perú colonial (R. Zeballos Rebaza, Trad.; Primera edición). Ediciones El Lector.
• Favaron Peyón, P. M. (2023). La cristiandad de pariacaca: Pedagogía y sincretismo en el Manuscrito de Huarochirí. Kipus: Revista Andina de Letras y Estudios Culturales, 54, 57-78. https://doi.org/10.32719/13900102.2023.54.4

The Apaza family teaches that they divide the Pacha (cosmos) into three parts: Hanaq Pacha (upper world), Kay Pacha (this world), and Ukhu Pacha (underworld).

This knowledge is also popular among the population of Cusco and also in the world.

Szemiński (2018) teaches that the cosmos can be divided into four parts, adding Qaylla Pacha, the world of limits, spaces, or passages between the other realms.

However, the author notes that no information about this has been found. Instead of contradicting, they suggest that this may reflect a deeper aspect of Andean philosophy.

Could this information have been lost during the colonization period?

Since 1572 the Jesuits when trying to collect and understand the Quechua and Aymara myths were not very open to the ideas, at the same time disputing with their own ideas and sometimes imposing and punishing the sorcerers (Brosseder, 2018).

A specific case is the myth of Huarochirí, noted for its authenticity. Favaron (2023) explains that it underwent narrative transformation due to Catholic pressure, reflecting clear biblical influences.

In this sense, the three Quechua worlds relate to the idea of the Christian Trinity.

However, as Panikkar (1998) notes, this trinitarian intuition appears in many cultures, expressed through various symbols. Its conception may differ, representing reality (the divine, the human, and the cosmic) or the human (body, soul, and spirit), alongside the familiar Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

What is Hanaq Pacha World for Apaza Family?

For the Apaza the Hanaq Pacha represents the world of the starts mama Chaska, the Pleiades or mama Qoto that are 7 ñustas, the music, as well as other constellations understood in the Andean world but also those that we do not know and are beyond, the Uqhu pacha the world inside, the underworld, where life arises to which we return after death. And the Kay pacha the land surrounded by the sea, the visible world (Szemiński, 2018).

Be that as it may it is one of the missions of the Andean tradition to remind today’s modern society the trinitarian idea is of vital importance, which according to Panikkar (1998) are guidelines of the given reality.

Where man is not enough, he needs other worlds to be able to realize his life in a better way. In this way we get as close as possible to the sense of the human being and his relationship with the cosmos and God.

Author: Joan de la colina Román

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References:

• Szemiński, J., Ziółkowski, M. S., y Wachtel, N. (2018). Mitos, rituales y política de los incas (R. Zeballos Rebaza, Trad.; Primera edición). Ediciones El Lector.

• Brosseder, C. (2018). El poder de las huacas: Cambios y resistencia en los Andes del Perú colonial (R. Zeballos Rebaza, Trad.; Primera edición). Ediciones El Lector.

• Panikkar, R. (1998). La Trinidad: Una experiencia humana primordial. Ediciones Siruela.
• Favaron Peyón, P. M. (2023). La cristiandad de pariacaca: Pedagogía y sincretismo en el Manuscrito de Huarochirí. Kipus: Revista Andina de Letras y Estudios Culturales, 54, 57-78. https://doi.org/10.32719/13900102.2023.54.4

Rural Communities

When we talk about the Q’ero Nation, we refer to the territory that includes the rural communities of:

• Japu
• Quico
• Marcachea
• Q‘ero Totorani
• Hatun Q’ero

All of which are located in the Andes mountain range in the province of Paucartambo, southeast of the city of Cusco.

Geography

The geography of the place is abrupt with glaciers, inter-Andean valleys and jungle brow areas. The maximum altitude is 5600 and the minimum 1400 meters above sea level (Irco vilca, 2016).

Q’ero Nation Importance

The importance of the Q’ero for the Peruvian culture was given thanks to the Cusquenian anthropologist Oscar Flores Ochoa.

He refers Núñez del Prado (2005) that: “in 1949 in the festivities of Paucartambo Oscar observed the presence of some men, who despite sharing the humble poverty of the other peasants kept a composure of unusual dignity”(p,18).

These men claimed to come from the Q’ero hacienda, from this moment he decided to make an expedition to this place.

When he arrived at the hacienda, he realized that they still conserved customs and traditions that could be traced back to the Inka period, regarding agriculture, llama and alpaca herding, textile art, social organization and their spiritual customs.

Also at this time, the indigenous communities in the Andes were exploited by the hacienda system, suffering abuses and injustices. The Q’ero also had to go through this, being rented to employers in the haciendas of Cusco (Núñez del Prado, 2005). Thanks to Oscar and other factors that influenced the agrarian reform, the peasants began to take possession of their lands.

Myth of Q’ero Inkarri

In Q’ero we found the famous myth of Inkarri that in a few words refers to the transforming force that promotes order instead of chaos (Getzels, 2005). As well as the philosophy of life as the spiritual sense of Pachamama, the Apus as guardians of human wellbeing, among many other information concerning the philosophy and religion of Andean man.

That is why this town keeps strong elements of a tradition that comes from many years ago.

From the 80’s onwards many of the Q’ero came down from their community to work especially in offerings and other jobs.

Currently many of the Q’eros went to cities like Cusco and other provinces, to seek education and better economic future for their families keeping with them the Andean life wherever they go.

Author: Joan Rukmali De la colina Roman

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References:

• Flores, J. (2005). Los q’eros. Últimos descendientes de los incas. En J. Flores, J. Núñez del Prado y M. Castillo (Eds.), Q’ERO, el ultimo ayllu inka.
• Peter Getzels (2005). Los ciegos: visión de la identidad del runa en
la ideología de Inkarrí-Qollam En J. Flores, J. Núñez del Prado y M. Castillo (Eds.), Q’ERO, el ultimo ayllu inka.
• Irco Vilca. Mirtha (2005). La cultura como recurso económico: caso Q’ero (2005-2010). Tesis UNSAAC.