page_title: Quyllurit'i
section_title: Festival
hierarchical_section_title: Quyllurit'i / Festival
caption_attribution_description: Qoyllur R'Iti, Peru. First cross along the road to Qoyllur R'Iti.
context_page_description: Quyllurit'i or Qoyllur R'iti is a syncretic religious festival held annually at the Sinakara Valley in the southern highlands Cusco Region of Peru. Local indigenous people of the Andes know this festival as a native celebration of the stars. In particular they celebrate the reappearance of the Pleiades constellation, known in Quechua as Qullqa, or "storehouse," and associated with the upcoming harvest and New Year. The Pleiades disappears from view in April and reappears in June. The new year is marked by indigenous people of the Southern Hemisphere on the Winter Solstice in June, and it is also a Catholic festival. The people have celebrated this period of time for hundreds if not thousands of years. The pilgrimage and associated festival was inscribed in 2011 on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists.
  According to the Catholic Church, the festival is in honor of the Lord of Quyllurit'i and it originated in the late 18th century. The young native herder Mariano Mayta befriended a mestizo boy named Manuel on the mountain Qullqipunku. Thanks to Manuel, Mariano's herd prospered, so his father sent him to Cusco to buy a new shirt for Manuel.
context_section_description: The festival is attended by thousands of indigenous people, some of whom come from as far away as Bolivia. The Christian celebration is organized by the Brotherhood of the Lord of Quyllurit'i (Spanish: Hermandad del Señor de Quyllurit'i), a lay organization that also keeps order during the festival. Preparations start on the feast of the Ascension, when the Lord of Quyllurit'i is carried in procession from its chapel at Mawallani 8 kilometers to its sanctuary at Sinaqara. 
  On the first Wednesday after Pentecost, a second procession carries a statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the Sinaqqara sanctuary to an uphill grotto to prepare for the festival. Most pilgrims arrive by Trinity Sunday, when the Blessed Sacrament is taken in procession through and around the sanctuary. 
  The following day, the Lord of Qoyllur Rit'i is taken in procession to the grotto of the Virgin and back. Pilgrims refer to this as the greeting between the Lord and Mary, referring to the double traditional Inca feasts of Pariacaca and Oncoy mita. (See section above.) On the night of this second day, dance troupes take turns to perform in the shrine. 
  At dawn on the third day, ukukus grouped by moieties climb the glaciers on Qullqipunku to retrieve crosses set on top. Some ukukus traditionally spent the night on the glacier to combat spirits. They also cut and bring back blocks of the ice, which is believed to have sacred medicinal qualities. The ukukus are considered to be the only ones capable of dealing with condenados, the cursed souls said to inhabit the snowfields. According to oral traditions, ukukus from different moieties used to engage in ritual battles on the glaciers, but this practice was banned by the Catholic Church. After a mass celebrated later this day, most pilgrims leave the sanctuary. One group carries the Lord of Quyllurit'i in procession to Tayankani before taking it back to Mawallani.
  The festival precedes the official feast of Corpus Christi, held the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, but it is closely associated with it. All these events take place during the Qoyllur Rit'i in  Perú.
caption: One of the crosses along the road to the Quyllurit'i shrine
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