Inti Raymi

The festival of the sun is one of the biggest festivals in Peru. It happens every year on Corinne's birthday (for those of you who are unlucky enough to have not experienced either one of Corinne's birthday parties or Inti Raymi, we're talking about June 24th).

The Inca's worshipped the sun and this holiday corresponded with the shortest day of the year. The fiesta and parties start about a week before.

We started off the week at the Grupo Cinco concert during the Fiesta de Huancaro. Here's us out to dinner with the professors before the show and a few pictures from the show.

And here's Jackie with a picture of Grupo Cinco. Carlos from Inti loves the band, so we figured we would buy him an autographed picture to frame for him.

We saw a number of children from Inti working the show (selling cigarettes). Here's us eating dinner with Rolando at the Grupo Cinco concert (one of the children from Inti).
Another night, we saw a laser show and fireworks in the plaza.

The night before Inti Raymi, there is a parade through the city that starts around noon and continues until late into the night. Everyone from Cusco comes out to party wearing their ponchos.
Inti Raymi begins at 9:30 am near Qorikancha (main ruins in Cusco). Hundreds of Cusquenans dressed in traditional clothing sing and dance waiting for the arrival of the Inca who comes out and sings to the sun and to the people. From there, they march to Plaza de Armas and then up to Sacsayhuaman (ruins overlooking the city). All along the way, there are more dancing, singing, and prayers to the sun.




The place was packed and it felt like a pilgrimage walking up to the ruins.
The most exciting part was when the Peruvians where able to overtake the police and watch from the rocks overlooking Sacsayhuaman. It was determined that people would be banned from watching the ceremony from the rocks (meaning far fewer people would be able to see it). Well, when the Inca came out, the people charged the rocks and overtook the area while yelling "Si Se Peude!" (Yes, we can!) It’s a common chant at soccer games. The police had no chance.
Here's us introducing Fluffanutta's to Inti Raymi

Here's our first attempt at adding a video to a blog . . . The ceremony was in Quechua so we didn't have a shot of understanding it, not that I would have been much better shape if it was in Spanish.