Indian Day in Peru

It is a celebration of the descendants of great builders and valiant warriors.In the rain forests of eastern Peru lives about a hundred Indian tribes. These tribes, almost isolated from the rest of the population, speak local dialects and obtain food by hunting, fishing and agriculture.

Another indigenous group includes Quechua and Aymara speakers. Many of them moved to the capital Lima and other cities on the coast, but most continue to live in the Andes, engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.

It is a celebration of the descendants of great builders and valiant warriors. Having wrapped themselves in colorful ponchos made of alpaca wool, knitted, with ears, chuglio caps, on this day they walk down from the plateaus of Puno – the crossroads of peoples, where on the shores of the world’s highest mountain lake Titicaca met and managed to find a formula for peaceful coexistence two great Indian civilizations of South America – Quechua and Aymara. They come from Arequipa – the “pearl of the south”, a wonder city built of carved silyar – white volcanic tuff. They come from hundreds of large and small villages of Peru, where the original Indian culture, the millennial way of life of the mountaineers have been preserved in their original form. All of them gather for a celebration in Cusco – the “center of the universe” to honor the great spirits of the mountains, ask the powerful Indian shrine for mercy to purify souls and carry with them a healing particle of the deity.