“The Relatedness of Things” Andean Soul and Spirit

The Aymara and Quechua people of the Andean highlands are only superficially Roman Catholic by religion: they retain beliefs and rituals which date back to pre-Inca times. Their worldview contains "liberation theology" in its original, indigenous form.

For the Aymara and Quechua highlanders, who live by tilling the soil and shepherding animals, faith is closely tied to agriculture. Everything is related: land, birth, death, the mountains, and the seasons. Nothing is absolute or complete in itself; there is a broad mutual need that links all things: supernatural beings, humanity, and nature. Harmony and balance are fundamental conditions of life.

The Andean belief structure flows from this sense of the relatedness of all things. Carnpesinos, the hill peasants, have a vague sense of a father god who is or dwells behind the sun and germinates life. But this god is remote. More central to the awareness of the Andean people is their veneration for Pachamama, the earth mother.

"The earth is the source of life; she is where we are born and buried. We do not want to abandon the earth, although at times it appears to abandon us. The earth is like a mother who nurses us and from whom we nourish ourselves. Were it not Tor the home, we would not exist," explains one Aymara leader.

The Pachamama is both the ancient mother who watches over her children as well as the young virgin who continually renews herself. She is the source of all that is alive, ever-fertile, ever creating; she will produce, reward and punish according to the way she is treated.

Besides the Pachamama, there are the achachilas ("grandparents"), protectors who live in the surrounding mountains. These spirits are given a community's forebears who remain close to their people, protecting them, sharing in their pain and sorrow, blessing them. They must be revered, prayed to and given offering.

There are two types of achachilas: the great ones, who protect the entire Andean people (these are the huge Andean peaks such as II-lampu, Illimani and Pachiri); and the innumerable local ones that bless particular communities.

When Spanish missionaries taught the An-dean people about the Virgin Mary, it was relatively easy to incorporate Mary into their concept of the Pachamama and to see the saints as protectors — they simply changed the names of the local achachila to that of the patron saints.

The idea of the soul was also familiar, because Andean highlanders believe that each human being has an ajayu, a principal spirit (there are several others), located in the head. This vital force can leave the body, especially during sleep. The ajayu of the dead can return home and announce the death of a family member. When a baptised infant dies, it is buried near the parent's home because the Aymara believe the child's ajayu will protect the house from evil spirits.

Another Andean belief is the complementarity of the masculine and the feminine, called jaqui. Aymaras believe in the fundamental principle of cosmic order; the male-female duality: everything has its complementary pair, its yana. The sun (masculine), has its moon (feminine); the corn, its potato; the lightning, its thunder.

It is up to the yatiris ("wise ones") to preserve the religious beliefs of the Andean people. These wise men and women are priests, diviners, healers and teachers.

LIBERATING AGENTS

Theologians and pastoralists working in the Andes are beginning to recognise "liberating" elements in many of the pre-Christian practices, elements which are politically equalising in nature. They point to customs such as Kausay Haney or "leveling feast" whereby a family that has an abundance of animals or crop land gives to those who do not have as much, so that relative economic equality is maintained.

According to Diego Irarrazabal, Director of the Aymara Institute in Juli, Peru, Quechua and Aymara people understand god as the giver of life. The earth is the fruit of life and they discover a liberating god in receiving life from earth, working it and struggling for it. They relate to a creator god who bestows the miracle of life

Irrazabal points to the ritual of the cha'lla as a paradigm for the sacramental quality of Andean celebrations. The cha'lla is a libation in which men and women spill out part of the region's traditional chicha or other alcoholic drink on to the ground to venerate the Pachamama.

The ritual is performed at all important occasions: at the birth of a child, during a fast haircut; at weddings, funerals and anniversaries; at planting and harvest times; during the branding of animals; on feast days; at the beginning of a solemn meeting or business deal; at the roofing of a home. The toast signals peace, joy, and acceptance, and gives context to the meal that follows.

Andean Focus is a bimonthly publication that reports on human rights and social justice issues affecting the Andean peoples of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.