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The Inti Raymi or Feast of the Sun, was the most
important feast in time of the
Incas.
It was celebrated with occasion of the winter solstice
-the solar new year- for a town which main cult object
was the god Inti (the sun), in the
plaza of Huacaypata
in
Cusco.
The religious importance, festival ceremonial, social
and politics were such that the party was extended in
the whole Tahuantisuyo.
After the Spanish conquest, the Catolic Church
suppressed the ceremony and the Andean society
that used to celebrate this festivity to the sun was
dismembered.
The Inti Raymi was forgotten then, until half of the
XX century when, as expression of a great movement of
revaluation of the native culture in Peru, was returned
to the scene.
In 1944 a group of intellectuals and artists from
Cusco headed by Humberto Vidal U., decided to recover
the Inti Raymi of the History and to present it as a
show of theatrical type, dedicated to the whole
population of Cusco (Qosqo). From then on, with very few
exceptions, it has been represented every year, getting
rich and evolving for the historical investigation.
The Inti Raymi in time of the Incas was a religious
ceremony, now it is a theater representation. However
this expression generates a feeling of identity in the
town that evokes values and memories that are still
excellent in our days, it also brings to the memory a
time that lives in the heart of the town of Cusco
(Qosqo).
The version is expressed in the original, Quechua
language, with its corresponding translation to the
Spanish to facilitate a better understanding.
The Ceremony
At the present time, every year it is carried out on
June 24th in
Sacsayhuamán,
the solemn evocation of the splendid Inca rite, with a
renovated script and prepared by distinguished
specialists in the matter.
During the previous night of the representation the
lights were out of the enormous empire, the
Tahuantisuyo, and in the city of Cusco in the great
plaza Huacaypata (today Main Square) all the most
important characters of the empire were concentrated.
Among the shades, the multitude waited the appearance
of the god Inti (sun) with great respect. Generals,
princes, and all the nobility waited in deep silence;
many of them disguised of fierce and other animals of
the Andean mythology.
When appearing the sun, they expressed their
recognition and adoration as supreme god, only and
universal god that with its light and virtue created and
sustained all the things of the earth, thanking it for
the crops received in the year.
The Inca, with the help of the Priests induced the
god Inti (sun) exactly when it arrived to the maximum
point of distance and its approach began to Cusco, to
return with the favor of its rays, to fecundate the
earth and to offer the well-being to its sons of the
great empire of the Tahuantisuyo.
The sacred fire was renovated with a concave gold
bracelet that was located against the solar light which
reflections were projected on a very combed cotton
piece, the one that shortly was caught on fire. The
sacred fire was taken to the
Koricancha,
where the Acllas would conserve it.
During the ceremony it was also carried out the
sacrifice of a "llama" to predict the coming year, then
a great military march, and at the end all the
assistants retired and entertained in a big celebration
that lasted several days.
Source: Official Script of the Evocation of
the Inti Raymi, Municipality of Qosqo.
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