strength to the Pacha Mama, so that she might go on
generating life. During that offering ceremony, prayers
are made for the health of whoever asks for them. Often,
prayers are made for the participants´ work, prosperity
and protection. In our Andean cosmovision, everything
that surrounds us is alive and we consider that offsets
of balance frequently occur within our lives. So, one of
the ways we have to harmonize and re-balance them, is
through that Sacred Ceremony. Therefore, prayers are
made with three undamaged coca leaves that Mother Earth
gives us and which are offered to the Apus (Great
Mountain Spirits). We also use elements like sweets,
wool of different colors, myrrh, incense, animal fat and
a great variety of foods and herbs we buy in the market
and that the Andean people call “alcanzo” (allowance).
But, one has to know how to prepare the offering,
because not all that is being sold is being used, as
each element has its meaning and reason to be.
These offerings are prepared by initiated people like
the Andean Priests or Healers. It is a very ancient
wisdom that our brothers and sisters from the most
distant and well-known communities like Q´eros,
Ausangate and Wasao, have managed to keep alive. And
today, they share it with us.
Ceremony Organization.-
Our ceremony will take place outside the city of Cusco,
at the Archaeological Center of Moray or in some other
place in contact with nature. However, we´ll have to
burn the offering at the house of the Andean Priest or “Papacho”,
as it is forbidden to burn products in nature, in order
to avoid fires and other problems in nature.
The ceremony´s starting time depends on the
participants´ program or on their time availability.
But, it will only be so, if the ceremony takes place
outside Cusco, in the morning or in the afternoon and
only until 2:00 p.m., because, in the afternoon, strong
winds in the countryside don´t allow the Shaman to
correctly perform the ceremony.
On our way out, we´ll go to the place where the
following ceremonies will be performed:
Flowering:
Ceremony performed with several flowers and plants with
energetic powers.
Offering:
Ceremony that starts with a brief permission request
made by the Shaman to Mother Nature.
The ceremony lasts from one and a half to two hours and
to this must be added transportation time, according to
the chosen destination.
