Paper
The relationship between Astronomy and the Qoyllur Rit’i festival
presenters
Milton Rojas Gamarra
Nationality: Peru
Residence: CUSCO
Universidad de San Antonio Abad del Cusco
Presence:Face to Face/ On Site
Keywords:
QoyllurRit’i; Astronomy; Syncretism; Waka; Pleiades
Abstract:
In the Andean world, before the arrival of the Spanish, there was a way of life, all of it based mainly on three principles, Ayni (Help, reciprocity), Kawsaypacha (everything in the world lives) Tinkuy (interactions where fulfill the Ayni). In addition to these principles there were different places, idols, rocky outcrops, things out of the ordinary which were called Wakas, one of these Wakas that was a rocky outcrop was in the snowy mountain called Qoylloryti which in the Inka language translates as gold star. The Inkas in large Tinkuy traveled to this Waka just at the time of the heliacal rise of the constellation of Qollqa, which in the West is called the Pleiades, this event was highly anticipated, since the agricultural year depended on it, there is even an enclosure in the main temple of the Inkas called the Qoriqancha. This Tinkuy was forgotten and re-signified by the Spanish, now a pilgrimage is made to the Lord of Qoylloryti, which is a drawing of Christ crucified on the rocky outcrop and where a church was built, but as we will see this festival in the time of the Incas was totally astronomical and It had to do with several Wakas, the rocky outcrop, the constellation of Qollqa and even with the Moon and the Sun.