El señor de Quylluriti

Quylluriti is a religious festival that takes place in the Ocongate district on the slopes of a mountain called Ausangate. This festival is a pilgrimage, mixing Spanish customs and Inca customs. This pilgrimage begins 58 days after the celebration of Easter Sunday. Several dancers with their typical costumes accompany the pilgrims in search of a snow star found on the mountain. At the base camp close to the glacier you can attend a religious celebration and the different dances are performed against each other by the nations, each representing a village or region. They only have access to climb the glacier themselves to perform a ceremony. During this journey, the people ask for protection and blessings for many things. During this festival, many children also go on a pilgrimage with their families. One of them is Radamel Sebastian who comes to the project in Huancaro. He along with his entire family makes this pilgrimage as part of a dance called Siqlla. Radamel tells.

“When we got to the shrine, we looked for a place to sleep, bought food and drank hot herbal tea. I like to dance with my father, this dance represents my father and his friends who are from Surite. We rehearsed a month before so we could dance really well. My suit is black and I like it very much. I am happy that I can start praying and my sister is also coming with me. It is very cold in that place (because of the altitude), but during the day the sun is very strong. But I have my dancing clothes on and that helps me against the cold. We also have hot drinks. It is a very beautiful place because we dance, eat and pray. I pray for Añañau, the tios and my family. Next year I will dance again for El señor de Quylluriti.”