Day of the Pachamama

The first day of August celebrates in Cuzco, this ancestral tradition is a tribute to the mother earth "Pachamama" as a sign of gratitude for the food and protection provided to the human being during the year before his tribute.
The Pachamama is one of the protective deities of the Inca Empire. The Pachamama was very venerated in the pre-Hispanic times by the Inca people, it had in its name the word "Mom" which means mother because it was believed that this was considered as a mother that is responsible for nourishing, protecting and maintaining welfare to the men who are born of it.

The offering is a symbolic way in which the man returns to the Pachamama what he has taken from it, in order to restore the reciprocity between the human being and nature. So, in addition to returning something of what he has given us and thanking him for it, Mother Earth is asked for the deepest desires about life, what we want to achieve and what we want for our loved ones.

The ceremonies are basically of two types, in the homes, with private and family offerings, and in community, where the ceremony is led by Andean priests or the elderly people of the community. In the houses, the ceremony begins very early with the smoked, which is the "cleaning" of the rooms. Garbage is collected from the corners, placed in a shovel with embers and add plants from the area. Tradition says that the muña muña herb should be used, although incense, myrrh and sandalwood are also used. And both the home and the businesses, the workspace and even the closest people in the affections must be smoked, to take out the bad energies and start a new cycle.

Then comes the "corpachada", in which offerings are placed in a hole dug in the ground, as a way to feed and drink Mother Earth. In the "corpachada" are placed in that hole in the earth an acullico, coca leaves chewed, or just coca, the llicta dough made with boiled potatoes, dark gray by the ashes of some plants, tobacco and alcoholic beverages like chicha; snacks of tistincha stew prepared with lamb or llama, locro, humita and papines. Burned cane - or gin - is also poured with male rue macerated in the spirit drink.
So the earth is given to eat, drink and smoke. And the llojke or yoki is usually placed, an amulet that consists of two strands of black and white thread.

These rituals of offering are directed by specialists in the Andean religiosity and according to the acquired learning and to the faculties obtained by these characters