In the Ocongate province, in the Urcos district, is located one of the highest mountains in this region, called Apu Ausangate. This place contains one of the most important rites of this time: Qoyllorrity, scene of ancient pilgrimages and prayers of the inhabitants of these lands.
Pilgrimages have been made in our pre-Hispanic culture from times immemorial. They have more or less clear goals, around certain spaces, certain “Apus” (mountains) or sacred mountains, to make a cleaning of the body and negative energies, but always in relation to the earth.
During these pilgrimages, a whole process of internal changes occurs as the person reviews certain aspects of their life, becoming aware of the factors which blocks their development and at the same time bringing consciousness to the truly redeemable aspects of oneself. The type of work that is/was carried out depends on the date and place where the pilgrimage takes place.
Inner development covers certain stages. Some of these include developing awareness, clarifying inhibiting aspects of ourselves – whether conscious or unconscious – and rescuing energies and strengths that help take us to where we want to go in life. The aim is to find a parallel between the paths that we walk externally on this land, considered sacred from ancient times, and the internal elements of our being. The external and internal gradually converge together. They become bridges between contact with nature – the energy from these places and the interior energy and obstacles that may hinder us in this bridging process.
The destination of the pilgrimage to Qoyllority is one of the four important points, tawa pukuna: the Apu Ausangate, Apu Sinakara, the Lord of Qoyllority.
Apu Ausangate
Qoyllority is the centre, the place where a natural phenomenon with strong white purifying energy takes place. At the time of the pilgrimage in Qoyllority, the Earth is located at a certain position in relationship to the Sun, due to the development of the Earth’s transition, from its location. At this time of the year, there is a phenomenon that comes from the Sun itself to Earth and is located precisely in Qoylloriti, which produces a change in the energy of the water, that is placed on the riti, the snow. This energy comes through the Cosmos, through the dust of the stars, as our grandparents named it. Stardust is the energy that will give us a new life, a new light and it comes from the snow to the water.
That is the reason why the ancestral ukukus (bear-men) carry the snow and collect the dust from the stars, that revitalizing energy, light, life. It is collected and taken to clean the space, first the house, then one’s body and afterwards everything that it contains is cleaned, changed and protected.
Pilgrimage to the Lord of Qoyllority
The pilgrimage to the Lord of Qoyllority, traditionally, takes place on full moon before the Winter Solstice. This is more or less around the end of May and the first week of June.
Chaos is forgetfulness, it is disease, it is the disorder of times, it is the lack of memory, the lack of clarity in the present and the lack of clarity of the future. And the worldview is order, it is the recovery of memory, the recovery of clarity of the future and in the present. The pilgrimage to the Lord of Qoylloriti seeks a re-ordering process, in regard to a future time, a dawn of tomorrow. Looking for your star is looking for your destiny.
It is here amid snow-capped mountains, skies, stars, music, dances and colors, and the huaca of Qoyllority, ancestral sanctuary preserved through generations, where, through the practice of pilgrimage, fasting, concentration and reflection, one searches for one’s own destiny; helped by the consumption of typical plants of the region (master plants, coca, corn, quinoa, cañihua, kiwicha, etc.) used as part of the fasting diet.
