Every year, in May or June, tens of thousands of pilgrims gather in the high Andean Sinakara Valley, under the imposing presence of Mount Ausangate, the sacred mountain that dominates the horizon southeast of Cusco, almost a hundred kilometres away.
The Peruvian national flag and the rainbow emblem of the empire of the Incas flutter in the wind 4,800 metres above sea level, as the faithful come from every corner of the Cusco region.
Qoylluriti is a growing cult, and each year more and more believers flock to this remote place to celebrate what is essentially a meeting of the Catholic faith with the indigenous practices of the region’s first inhabitants. What began as a pre-Hispanic cult for the worship of the water supplied by the sacred mountains, or Apus, that dominate both the skyline and the religion of Cusco’s highland farmers and herders, became enmeshed with the new religion from Europe in the 17th century, when a shepherd boy is said to have been visited by a vision of Christ as he tended his flocks. Today, the litany of the Church exists side-by-side with the music of the Andes when this valley fills with as many as 30,000 pilgrims who carry two faiths in their hearts
Contact us if you would like to combine your trip to Peru with a traditional festival |
