Inti Raymi

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Comment by mycol stevens on October 6, 2008 at 7:01pm

One of my best friends Sergio and Isa from Colombia named his child Inti after this. Witnessing the days leading up to the Inti Raymi in Cusco a few years back was amazing ....despite actually missing the climax day. Visiting Sacsayhuaman (pronounced Sexy woman) with an organized event was piled over with thousands of Peruvians celebrating this event. This place is one of a triad of monumental ancient cities along with the famous Machu Pichu being another.
A parade of sorts was held in the streets of Cusco leading up with such an amazing presence of each town from the outskirts representing. The music, colors, energy all amazing.
In particular I was grateful to see the reverence of the coca plant being offered to the earth (Patchamama) as a sacred sacrement.

The old textile in Michaels photo I had gotten when I was in an indigenous village in Ecuador back in 1991 that had an incredible market.

Comment by Michael Levin on October 5, 2008 at 3:49pm

From Wikipedia:

The Inti Raymi ("Festival of the Sun") was a religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the god Inti. It also marked the winter solstice and a new year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere. Since 1944, a theatrical representation of the Inti Raymi has been taking place at Sacsayhuamán (two km. from Cusco) on June 24 of each year, attracting thousands of tourists and local visitors.
During the Inca Empire, the Inti Raymi was the most important of four ceremonies celebrated in Cusco, as related by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The ceremony was also said to indicate the mythical origin of the Incas, lasting nine days of colorful dances and processions, as well as animal sacrifices to ensure a good cropping season. The last Inti Raymi with the Inca Emperor's presence was carried out in 1535, after which the Spanish conquest and the Catholic Church suppressed it. Some natives participated in similar ceremonies in the years after, but it was completely prohibited in 1572 by the Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, who claimed it was a pagan ceremony opposed to the Catholic faith.
In 1944, a historical reconstruction of the Inti Raymi was directed by Faustino Espinoza Navarro and indigenous actors. The first reconstruction was largely based on the chronicles of Garcilaso de la Vega and only referred to the religious ceremony.