Ausangate Study Guide
Ausangate Study Guide
Ausangate Study Guide
Ausangate
kontentreal presents Quechua people who live on
the slopes of Ausangate have
Because of Ausangate, we are maintained their way of life
here, we all exist. We give largely unknown to the outside
him offerings and he gives us world and in close relationship
everything in return. Ausan- to the mountain, much as their
gate takes care of everything, ancestors did before them.
animals and people. Thanks to Ausangate, at 20,800’ is a
TRANSCRIPT Ausangate, there are plenty of sacred peak or Apu, a power-
animals and food, because we ful mountain inspiring the lives
make offerings to him. and rituals of the Quechua.
Ausangate has always been Qoyllulr Rit’I, the largest pil-
like that. He gave us all those grimage in Peru, draws thou-
things. He gives us potatoes sands of people to Ausangate
and chuño. In ancient times, each year to make offerings
the shamans gave the best of- and in return to receive the
ferings, k’intus to the Apus. mountain’s blessings.
1 TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate
D O C U M E N TA RY E D U C AT I O N A L R E S O U R C E S Transcript
NARR NARR
Dr. Andrea Heckman has been traveling to Au- Theirs is a dynamic living culture in the midst
sangate for over twenty years. Each year, she of absorbing new ways that that are useful to
returns to study the textiles, the rituals, to visit them while preserving their traditions.
her many godchildren and the weavers, and to
work as a trekking guide. NARR
They weave their stories into cloth reinforcing
Andrea their way of life. Their logic is distinctly An-
Ausangate is a sacred Apu, it’s a mountain dean, which is quite different from ours. They
spirit and when you’re here you have no doubt keep what works for them and discard what
that that’s exactly what it is, it’s so powerful. does not.
And the Quechua people who live around it,
they have this relationship to it, they’re con- NARR
nected to the wind and the thunder and you For many people, pride in their Inca heritage,
never know from year to year when you come in the arts, architecture and Inca traditions is
back, what will have changed. blended with modern beliefs. When Catholi-
cism came to the Andes attempting to con-
vert Andean beliefs to Christianity, resistance
went high into the mountains and stayed there
in certain practices and in the hearts of the
people.
Some symbols mesh together to represent
diverse ideas within one expression, such as
the image of the Virgin that is both the sacred
mother to the Catholics and the fertile Pa-
chamama for the Quechua.
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NARR
In Cusco, Dr. Jorge Flores Ochoa is an an-
thropologist at the University of San Antonio
de Abad and is the director of the city’s Inca
Museum. He speaks of the concept of Andean
reciprocity called ayni.
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NARR NARR
Often local ritualists or misayoqs such as Se- For Quechua who’ve gone to cities, returning
bastian are called in to speak directly to the is a homecoming full of excitement and an-
mountain on the community’s behalf or for ticipation. The rapid urban pace disappears
those traveling to Ausangate. In the Andes, as travelers return to their rural homes. Au-
the coca leaf is a sacred sacrament offered to sangate is at first a distant glacier, but grows
the Apus as ritualists blow their breath over larger and larger as the long journey continues
the leaves or burn offerings to carry the mes- until the enormous peaks are near, and the
sages in smoke up to the mountain spirits. presence of the mountain god permeates all
life.
NARR
Coca is also exchanged between people for NARR
ayni or as a gift. It is chewed and brewed into On the way to Ausangate is the important re-
gional center and village of Pitumarka.
NARR
Timoteo Ccarita is a former mayor of Pitu-
marka and organized the Mother’s club to help
women regain their knowledge of natural dyes
and forgotten weaving techniques.
TIMOTEO
I don’t remember when but one government
teas to help with altitude sickness and is often prohibited people to weave the designs of the
consulted in readings to predict the future. Incas. So the people of the countryside forgot
how to make these weavings. Now we study in
SEBASTIAN the museums and have found a way to weave
This is to the Apu, Apu Ausangate, the apu these animals and designs in colonial textiles.
of the highlands. This is to pachamama, the
mother earth.
TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate 4
D O C U M E N TA RY E D U C AT I O N A L R E S O U R C E S study guide
TIMOTEO
The people of the countryside don’t really
know how to speak Spanish or how to write,
so the designs of their textiles are really their
writing.
They put in much about agriculture, their be-
liefs, marriages, Also, they put in the textiles,
their rituals to the mother earth, all this is to
the Apus.
NARR
Weaving is memory, a visual language of sym-
bols. It is identity and a sense of belonging
to the community, to the ancestors and to the
environment.
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TIMOTEO
Our ancestors used natural dyes. We are recov-
ering these dyes and colors that they used. The
weavers know the plants for different colors.
Sometimes we did not remember the plants for
the natural dyes but now we are remembering
the ancient dyes and have recovered them.
TIMOTEO
Ausangate was the greatest god or largest Apu
for Pitumarka. For this reason, they weave the
Apu.
offer a moment of fascination. But soon most
are on the way back to their own villages.
NARR
Luis Pacsi Huilca was born near Ausangate in
Mahuayani. He is a head arriero who owns
many pack animals and is well known through-
out the region. He often works with his son
Miguel.
NARR
Continuing beyond Pitumarka, the long and
dusty road passes by many small villages un-
til the end of the motorized travel in Tinqui,
which is the most important local market for
Quechuas on the northern side of Ausangate.
NARR
In the Sunday market people socialize as they
exchange goods. The old exists alongside the
new. They are exposed to television, roads and
electricity. Small restaurants with televisions
TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate 6
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MIGUEL PACSI
My name is Miguel Pacsi Mayu. I am very
fortunate to have a father like I have. But
when my mother died, then my father had
another wife. It was not a good time for us.
The decision was made for us to go to Cuzco
to start our studies. At times, it was very hard.
The things in the coutryside do not have value
in the city. The city people value other things
and you have to have money.
LUIS PACSI
I was the president of the cooperative when
the hacienda broke up. Everything you see
here was part of it. As president, I learned to
drive and I had an official truck. There were
18 communities.
NARR
Luis sent his son, Miguel and his daughter,
Delia, to the University of Cuzco to study
tourism so they could find work. Both he and
his children return often to Ausangate, to their
roots.
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NARR
In the high mountains,
extended social networks
called ayllus are a profound
concept inherited from their
Inca ancestors. People liv-
ing and working together
sustain life by helping one
another with tasks like new
MIGUEL PACSI
This place is called Uturungoqocha,
qocha means lake. Why is this place so
important? People who live near here in Aus- roofs and caring for the animals.
angate believe that this is where the forces of
nature are born like lightning and hail. JUAN NUNEZ DEL PRADO
Ayllu is another fundamental concept. Ayllu
JORGE FLORES OCHOA is basically family. So, our nearest immediate
I’d like to mention the belief of the herders family is our first Ayllu, after that, it extends
from the highlands known as the puna. For to our bigger ayllu of family and friends and
them Ausangate is the owner of the alpaca and finally into a karu Ayllu, and into the distant
llama herds. He is the one who controls the family and so on. I would say that they are
herds. spheres of affection.
TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate 8
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NARR NARR
Further up the mountain is Pacchanta, a place In Pacchanta, Maria Merma Gonzalo is one of
well known for its weavers and fine textiles. the community’s best weavers. Because Andrea
Luis, Miguel and Andrea greet locals with is godmother to many of Maria’s children and
gifts of coca and a soccer ball for the school. grandchildren, she returns annually to visit
Maria. Maria’s daughter Silea, like her mother,
Andrea addresses the group in Spanish. is one of the finest weavers in Pacchanta.
NARR ANDREA
Luis addresses the community about working Maria lives in a community called Pacchanta.
with guides, tourism, expeditions and trekkers There’s scattered houses and Maria’s been an
who come to Ausangate. He explains about important person there for a long time because
keeping the camping areas clean and the need
to provide grazing for pack animals.
NARR
Allyu by allyu, community members voice
opinions about how to encourage the occa-
sional trekking groups for the good of the local
economy and how it helps provide money for
their families.
Luis explains that he will come back next July
with more groups.
NARR
Highland Quechua women weave their beliefs
into the textiles. The diamond patterns known
as qochas represent lakes of many sizes and
shapes and various colors which metaphori-
cally express the value of water and how it is
naturally stored in lakes. A zigzag or qenqo
represents the rivers as they bring snowmelt
from Ausangate’s glaciers.
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designs they are telling their communal stories. the clumps. We work in these highlands. Men
In doing so, they help the community sustain use the foot plow or chakitakhlla.
itself and they show their personal value as a
potential wife. When asked why they do this, NARR
some say, “Because it is like it has always been Over the centuries, Andeans have perfected
done.” And others say, “You know because it is freeze-drying potatoes called chuño and mo-
how the Incas did it” reinforcing their contin- raya. These potatoes will last a year or more
ued connection to their past. in storage and provide nutrition for the family
when there are no crops.
MARIA
I sell these MARIA
scarves, We chose
traditional potatoes
shoulder to make
cloths and chuño,
ponchos separating
I make the small-
along with est from
beer and the largest.
soft drinks. First, sec-
Yes, from ond, third
early quality.
times, We spread
Ausangate them on the
has been ground for
ours. We three nights
respect and the
him. He potatoes
is our pro- are exposed
tector divinity because he is the Apu. We give to the cold at night. To freeze dry the moraya,
thanks to him. We make offerings to him so we we put them into water until it expels “leche”
will stay well. (starch) We do this first. If we keep the pota-
I always weave to Apu Ausangate. We weave toes in cold without putting them into water it
symbols about Ausangate such as lakes, con- makes a lesser quality of moraya called ch’olo.
dors, little birds, ducks and llamas.
I teach my children. I teach my relatives. This MAN’S VOICE
is for my family and me. My house is here and Papa wayru…papa wayru.
they weave here in this place with me.
NARR
MARIA A pachamanka, an earthen oven, is construct-
We grow crops only in January, February and ed from stones in the field and a whole sheep is
March. We work mostly farming and herding. cooked at once for some special occasion when
Women clean, prepare the ground and remove everyone feasts upon it together.
TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate 10
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MARIA
Because of our Apu, we exist. That is the rea-
son others come to our Apu Ausangate. They
come from far away, from all over, from other
countries, in order to have Ausangate improve
their lives. I think he is for all of us. Ausan-
gate is for us all, so that his sons all over the
world will live. I believe that.
NARR
Pacchantan weavers have started using natural
dyes again and Andrea learns that Maria has NARR
been experimenting with other designs from The journey continues from Pacchanta around
Ausangate. High mountain passes are marked
by stones carried there to add to rock cairns
called apachetas as a thank you to the pa-
chamama for safely crossing the mountains.
NARR
Nasario is a pampa misayoq, and he is trained
Ccachin that she saw in Andrea’s book, but to make offerings to Ausangate. His father was
Maria likes her own community designs better an alto misayoq or the highest level of Andean
because they show that she is from Pacchanta ritualist known to speak directly to Ausangate
and she continues to weave her traditional on behalf of the people. Very few altomisayoqs
designs learned from her mother and grand- exist today.
mother.
Nasario and Andrea discuss designs.
Andrea and group discuss other designs.
NASARIO
NARR This is a path. This is sonqo, the heart. These
Women’s hands are never idle and everyone are fields and the mother earth.
in the family spins yarn for weaving on drop
spindles. Luis, an accomplished knitter and
spinner, compares his spinning to theirs.
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ANDREA
Two years ago when we came through here,
I became his godmother. Being a godmother
means that you promise to come back and that
you’re committed to help in any way.
The haircutting
NARR
NARR
Andrea and photographer Andre Lambertson
Nasario stays at his father’s house because at
became Roosevelt’s godparents by participat-
over fifteen thousand feet, it is one of the clos-
ing in his first haircutting, a Quechua rite of
est places to commune with Ausangate. He of-
fers to make a despacho for the Apu using his
father’s altar or shrine.
NARR
Later in the evening, Nasario will burn the of-
fering he is making and the prayers will be car-
ried on the smoke to Ausangate. They believe
that when they feed the mountain its favorite
food and gifts, the mountain will in turn an-
swer their prayers with blessings and abun-
passage from childhood into adulthood. Fam-
dance, and they will then make more offerings
ily, godparents and friends all cut the child’s
to show their gratitude to Apu Ausangate.
hair together to mark the child’s changed
social status within their allyus and their com-
Nasario continues the offering.
munities.
ANDREA
At 14,500’, Roosevelt’s life is not easy but he
We’ve been walking for three days now, from
touches the hearts of those who know him and
Tinqui to Upis. And now we’re here at Ausan-
many others who cross the high passes near his
gateqocha and when we come down the other
home.
side we’ll be at Uchuy FInaya and that’s where
my godson, Roosevelt lives. He’s a remarkable
Dancing
young man. He was born with a spinal condi
TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate 12
D O C U M E N TA RY E D U C AT I O N A L R E S O U R C E S study guide
NARR
Qoyllur Rit’i culminates in a trek 3,000 feet up
the mountain trail to a glacier in the Sinkara
Valley where pilgrims pray for many days and
nights.
Girls dance.
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TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate 14
D O C U M E N TA RY E D U C AT I O N A L R E S O U R C E S study guide
to ask for food or anything they want. They the climbing to the snow peak.
are the tricksters and some are the Pauluchas, To climb to the snow peak to do the ceremo-
or enforcers of the pilgrimage rules. nies on the snow, the purpose of the ceremo-
nies is showing their identification with Ausan-
The great processions take place when all gate, the great massif, the most important of
dancers and pilgrims circle from the church this region.
taking the cross with El Senor de Qoyllur
Rit’i on a journey to the rock of the Virgin NARR
of Fatima and then cirlcling back to the large After days of laughter, sacrifice and blessings,
balcony of the church. and by standing all night on the glacier, danc-
ers win the privilege of bringing with them a
NARR large chunk of glacial ice that is melted and
During these many drunk by all for
days and nights good health. The
they intentionally pilgrimage is about
create chaos with renewal and the
the loud bands acknowledgement
and the blasts of of the sacredness
dynamite that of water.
echo in the valleys
and call out to the On Tuesday morn-
Apus. ing, the ukukus
descend the glacier.
This reflects the After mass, many
imbalances of the pilgrims descend to
outer world, the Mahuayani and re-
world of unjust so- turn home to their
cial structures. For this period of altered time villages or Cuzco. But about one thousand
and space, rules are forgotten and the impos- dancers walk on for another day and night in
sible is accomplished. Dancers move up and the moonlight over several high passes until
down the mountain in prayer. they arrive at the place where they await the
dawn together in Tayankani.
Quechua life nestles into the mountain.
Around the church, prayer, devotion and cel- The Inca identified strongly with the sun, and
ebration continue throughout the night. Many as the sun rises over the distant high ridge,
dance, some rest and then in the pre-dawn their decsendents drop to their knees with
cold, they head up the glacier. As they ascend, raised arms to welcome the sun’s warmth
the intensity deepens. and the peacefulness of sunrise. On this final
morning, they pay respect to a renewed, once
JORGE FLORES OCHOA again balanced and harmonious world after
And the other elements are so Andean, too. the many days and nights of ritual chaos.
Some of them are obviously of pre-Colombian
origin, like the importance of the snow, and
15 TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate
D O C U M E N TA RY E D U C AT I O N A L R E S O U R C E S study guide
From atop the ridge, dancers descend symboli- This film is dedicated to the people of
cally forming a large cross for Ausangate to Ausangate.
see.
To the memory of Silea, Maria’s daugh-
JORGE FLORES OCHOA ter, who with her baby and unborn
And the descent to Tayankani is also impres- child, died when struck by lightning in
sive. As groups that never have seen each 2004.
other in a whole year start to descend mak-
ing those figures and they interwine, it seems Roosevelt started school in Chilca last
like they were weaving. And since they go year, down valley from his parents
alone covering all the descent to the rhythm of who aspire for him to move to Cuzco
Chuncho until they reach Tayankani. to become a professional.
While change is inevitable even in Ausangate- The governments of Peru and Brazil
- for the Quechua-- their connection to the are building a Trans-South American
mountain and the land sustains them. All is highway cutting through Tinqui to con-
homage to Apu Ausangate. All is homage to nect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
the mountain spirit.
TRANSCRIPT: Ausangate 16