Andean virtual Gallery

Inti Raymi

The Inti Raymi, also known as the festival of the sun, is a celebration filled with sacrifices dances and feasts that gave the Andean people way of honoring their god. The specific god being honored at this ceremony is the sun god known as Inti. The ceremony involved prayers and animal sacrifices to the god as a thanks for the light and warmth the god brings them which ultimately produces everything they eat and use that is vital to their agriculture. An alternative reason for offerings to be held could be due to a former harvesting season that didn’t do so well and they are asking Inti for his forgiveness so that they may once again have a healthy harvesting season. The festival of the sun takes place on June 24th due to the sun being at the highest point of the year in the perspective of the ancient Indians. This date also marks the next harvesting season’s new year. The last Inti Raymi that took place with a known Inca emperor was in 1532 before the Spanish invaded and forced them to abide by their religious beliefs. As a result, traditions such as this were seen as rebellious.

  “Peru”

Origin

“inti”

While the Inca empire was still in tact, many Andeans participated in a festival to honor their sun god known as Intl. This festival was known as Inti Raymi. Inti Raymi was the most important of the four ceremonies that were celebrated in Cusco at the time. This “festival of the sun”, was celebrated in the month of June on the 24th. This month is considered a winter month below the equator in such locations as Peru (Michelle Wibbelsman). It is said that this festival was also created to celebrate the new year for harvesting in the Andes due to the sun beeing at its highest point of the year on this very day.

History/Evolution

“inti raymi”

The sun god known as Inti is the center of this festival. There were many temples to Inti and Sun worship that affected many aspects of life for the Inca. The Inca visualized Inti as a man and his wife was the Moon. Inti was the bringer of warmth, light and sunshine which were all necessary for agriculture. The Inca often built pillars which marked the position of the Sun at the solstices, which were celebrated by grand festivals such the Inti Raymi (Michelle Wibbelsman). As the Spaniards invaded, the tradition was seen as an act against the Christianity that the Spanish were trying to force on the Andean people. The last inti raymi that took place with the last known Inca emperor, was in 1535. Despite the odds, this festival has survived all the way until today and can now be seen or celebrated by tourists from all over the world in Peru.

Present day

“inti raymi today”

You may think the picture above looks strange in a sense. This could be the fact that there are modern day object of our time in the background such as benches and flag poles existing while the festival, inti raymi, is going on. This is possible because, amazingly, inti raymi still goes on to this very day.  Since 1944, the theatrical representation of this festival has been taking place at Sacsayhuaman. This festival attracts tourists from all over the world on the 24th of June to see a reenactment of how the ceremonial part was done of the festival. After the ceremony, on the day of and the day after, there are feasts, celebrations, and dances that take place that now today also involve the tourists who came to participate (Michelle Wibbelsman). Now a days, this festival intentionally attracts tourists to join by integrating itself into modern day society by offering deals with hotels that have been  built near the location of the festival. Here is a link below to see what goes on during the festival of the sun.

http://youtu.be/h-9-5w-WXlY

Class Relevance

During the invasion of the Spaniards, the Andeans were forced to convert their beliefs to that of Christianity. In Christianity, there is no such reason for a festival such as the Inti Raymi so the Spaniards viewed this as an act against god and they labeled it as blasphemous. In this class we learned about how the natives used such festivals that involved dances and feasts as a rebellious act against the beliefs that the priests tried to force upon them (J. Andrien). The dances they did in these rebellious acts were also referred to as the sickness dance. One thing that also affected the survival of this tradition was idolatry. In the act of destroying every physical tool for traditional prayer and warship, the Spaniards caused festivals and all sorts of other traditions to fade away with time. In the Inti Raymi’s case there was also the destruction of pillars that were aligned with the locations of the sun overhead at different points of the year.

 “Adam and Eve”

Even when it comes to pictures like the one above, Andean artists always found a way to integrate Andean beliefs such as the belief in inti and coya in their art work. Even if the picture was meant to represent Christianity they were still able to sneak in little portions of their native religion. We also learned that stories and religious traditions were able to last as long as they have due to the actions of oral communications. This is how a festival such as the inti raymi was able to survive for such a long period of time without being forgotten.

Bibliography

Wibbelsman, Michelle. Ritual Encounters [electronic Resource] : Otavalan Modern and Mythic Community / Michelle Wibbelsman. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.

Andrien, Kenneth J. Andean Worlds: Indigenous History, Culture, and Consciousness under Spanish Rule, 1532-1825. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 2001. Print.

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