What Does This Party Mean

So we've just come through carnival weekend only to find another day of festivities going on in the market beside us. We were told that today the party is for the Andean goddess pachamama. The 2 indigenous groups here in Bolivia, the Aymaran and the Quechuan have some very distinct spiritual rituals which include monthly sacrifices which are burnt the first Friday of every month. It took us a few months to figure out what was going on as we were noticing that every month out on the street in front of our market there were these craft like items to buy as well as small bags of carbon and grills. After asking some of our Bolivian Christian friends they explained the purpose and to whom it was for. Tonight I decided to hit Google and find out more. I've included the info from the Internet to help you understand some of the beliefs and practices here in Bolivia. Brian and I both found it interesting that tonight's party for pachamama falls on the first day of lent. Perhaps this could be because many of the Catholic beliefs here are a mix of Catholicism and indigenous spirituality. Please pray for God's presence to reveal the truth here in Bolivia.
Norma


Pachamama
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For the film distributor, see Pachamama Cine.
Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. Pachamama is usually translated as "Mother Earth" but a more literal translation would be "Mother world" (in Aymara and Quechua mama = mother / pacha = world or land; and later spread fairly modern as the cosmos or the universe).[1] Pachamama and Inti are the most benevolent deities and are worshiped in parts of the Andean mountain ranges, also known as Tawantinsuyu (stretching from present day Ecuador to Chile and Argentina).
In Inca mythology, Mama Pacha or Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting. She causes earthquakes. Her husband was either Pacha Camac or Inti, depending on the source. Llamas are sacrificed to her. After conquest by Catholic Spain her image was masked by the Virgin Mary, behind whom she is invoked and worshiped in the Indian ritual, in some parts of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru (Merlino y Rabey 1992).[2]
Since Pachamama is a "good mother", people usually toast to her honor before every meeting or festivity, in some regions by spilling a small amount of chicha on the floor, before drinking the rest. This toast is called "challa" and it's made almost everyday. Pachamama has a special worship day called "Martes de challa" (Challa's Tuesday) where people bury food, throw candies, burn incense. In some cases, celebrants assist traditional priests, known as "yatiris" in Aymara, in performing ancient rites to bring good luck or the good will of the goddess, such as sacrificing guinea pigs or burning llama fetuses (although these last two are no longer very common). The festival coincides with Shrove Tuesday.
Contents[hide]
1 Ritual
2 See also
3 References
4 External links
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[edit] Ritual
The central ritual to Pachamama is the Challa or Pago (Payment). It is carried out during all the month of August, and in many places also the first Friday of each month. Other ceremonies are carried out in special times, as upon leaving for a trip or upon passing an apacheta. According to Mario Rabey and Rodolfo Merlino, Argentine anthropologists who studied the Andean culture from the 1970s to the '90s, "the most important ritual is the challaco. Challaco is a deformation of the quechua words 'ch'allay' and 'ch'allakuy', that refer to the action to insistently sprinkle.[1] In the current language of the campesinos of the southern Central Andes, the word 'challar' is used like a synonym of 'to feed and to give drink to the land'. The challaco, just as is practiced in the studied area,[3] covers a complex series of ritual steps that begin in the family dwellings the night of the eve, during which cooks a special food, the tijtincha, and that culminate in an eye of water or the beginning of a ditch where is carried out the main ritual to the Mother Earth, with a series of tributes that include food, beverage, leaves of Coca and cigars."[4]
The religion centered in the Pachamama is practiced currently in parallel form to the Christianity, to the point that many families are simultaneously Christian and pachamamistas.[3] Pachamama is sometimes syncretized the Virgin of Candelaria.[5]

A Day to Remember

A year ago today I said goodbye to a special women and dear friend Eileen Spillett. In recent days I've thought a lot about her. We started out in a family group together because of our geographical locations but I can see that God brought us together for so much more. You always gave 150% to see your girls succeed in school. In the early years I thought you were crazy at how much you gave and gave. Now as I'm in those same years of school with my son I finally get it. You shared some of your deepest struggles with me and the level of trust you had is still so admirable. Eileen you walked through cancer a fighter. You researched and sought out different treatments and wouldn't accept no for an answer. When you had to go for chemo you asked me to go wig shopping with you. You never knew how important that was to me. You were never afraid to ask for help, for meals, for pray. I will never forget the night our family group got together and you shaved all the men's head. As you came to family group and threw off your wig I knew there was a level of trust and intimacy that we so rarely experience and for that I say thanks. I'm sorry I wasn't brave enough to come visit you more in the hospital. I've always been so horrible at saying goodbye but now I see that I was so wrong. You blessed us when you were alive and blessed us through your death. Your memorial fund allowed us to come and spend this year here in Bolivia. I must confess I still struggle with this idea, that I'm here because you are not but I am comforted in the knowledge of the depth of your love for me and my family. I look forward some day to seeing you again and sharing all that God did in this year in Bolivia. So if I haven't said it clearly enough thank you for your friendship, thank you for your wisdom, thank you for your trust and vulnerability, thank you for your blessing and thank you for you love.

Love Norma

And so it begins......

We have just completed our first full week of activities for this year. Casa de la Amistad resumed it's program this last week and we were there to jump right in. There are many new faces and many children that have not returned from last year. The teachers have even mixed things up and several have changed classes that they're responsible for. Currently the program has 80 children enrolled and has capacity for 140. Please pray that more children will sign up for the program as there are hundreds in jail who could benefit from the program and need to be loved and encouraged daily. We will continue to go three days a week but will most likely stay for more of the afternoon on Monday and Friday. Thursday night was dia de compradre or godfather day. The market next door was closed off in the afternoon and a marching band started playing around 1:00 in the afternoon. Some time close to 6pm a live band started to play and continued until midnight. Luckily for us they were pretty good because even with all of our windows closed we couldn't hear the TV over the music. The people at the party of course ate, drank, danced, drank some more and eventually all ended up in a fist fight around Next Thursday is dia de comadre- godmother's day and we'll get to do it all over again. Let's hope the women can keep more order than the men. At least we'll have time to buy some ear plugs before than. This all leads into Carnival weekend which is next weekend. The entire weekend is one big water balloon fight. Last night we had a great time with friends who came over for a BBQ and the first episode of Indiana Jones. We all gathered around our 19" TV and to quote Brian watched in Dolby 1.7.

Today we are having some Bolivian friends over for Indian Food and cooking lessons as they want to learn the art of Indian cooking. Should be a good time.



I found a great website of a photographer the other day who has some amazing photos of Bolivia. I thought I'd include it so you can see some other pictures. Enjoy! http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/bolivia



Norma