|
Because of the Spanish determination to extirpate idol worship, Andean people ensured the survival of their rituals by mimitizing and fusing their rites with those of the Catholic church.
Thus, on the first Monday of carnival, by the shores of Lake Titicaca (on the high plains of the Peru-Bolivia border), Aimara people celebrate Jatha Katu, or "seed-catching". This family ritual involves a sacred exchange of gifts between campesino farmers and Pachamama. Local belief has it that this offering to Mother Earth will ensure a bountiful harvest.
It is dawn, and Jatha Katu begins while local people wait for the rains to ease. The women spread their shawls on the ground and decorate their family's hats with flowers. Everyone festoons each other with brightly colored paper streamers and confetti. Then the women walk down to the fields, pull a few potatoes from their roots and place them gently on a shawl where they are sprinkled with wine. As an offering to Mother Earth, they place a quince fruit and a handful of coca leaves in the ground, where the potatoes had been. The women then cover the harvested plant with streamers and shower it with confetti while the men play Andean melodies on their quenas. Thus Mother Earth has given, and Mother Earth has received.
The potatoes are taken home and again placed on shawls where they will be sprinkled with wine, flower petals and coca leaves. The tubers are blessed first by the head of the family, and then by his sons, wife, and daughters. During the day, close friends visit the family to join in dancing and drinking. The visits to other families and fields continue until the end of the day.
|
