C & C globetrotting around the world…

On June 24th, right on Quebec’s national holiday, we went to the Inti Raimy festivities in Cuzco. “Inti Raimy”, the Festival of the Sun, was a religious festival of the Incas in honour of one of their most important gods – Inti. There were many local forms of worship, but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti—the sun god—and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama. The Incas considered their King, the Sapa Inca, to be the “child of the sun.” The festival of Inti Raimy is believed to have been created to celebrate the new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere. The last Inti Raymi with the Inca Emperor’s presence was carried out in 1535, but since 1944 a celebration takes place every year on June 24th to re-enact this great tradition.

We watched the ceremony at the “Qorinkancha” site. Besides dances, we saw the High Priests and the Inca make offerings to “Pachamama” (Mother Earth). It was really nice and interesting to see. Then we watched the procession on the street and saw the “Virgins of the Sun”, soldiers, the High Priests, the Inca king and his wife as well as hundreds of musicians. What was interesting is that the entire time they played only one song, over and over again. As they were walking along, it was more of a semi-jog to the beat of the song. Although the Inca Empire has been destroyed, the culture seems to live on in people’s hearts.