incatrailmachu
Q'eswachaca - The last Inca bridge
High in the southern Peruvian Andes, an ancestral ritual has been taking place every June for 600 years. Do you know what it is? Well, if you don't know, we'll tell you about it here. This incredible ritual is the renewal of the Q'eswachaka, the last surviving Inca bridge, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. More than a thousand campesinos from the Quehue communities gather for three days to weave a new bridge of ichu (a native wild straw), following the same ancestral methods of their ancestors.
So, before starting the renewal, a ritual ceremony is held to ask for permission from the "Apus" (divinities) and the "Pachamama" (mother earth); and then this tradition begins, in which the old bridge is dismantled, the ichu is collected and the new one is woven. At the end of the weaving, a festival of indigenous dances is celebrated, where the new Q'eswachaka, 28 meters long and 1.20 meters wide, will be ready to be used for a year, connecting the communities and perpetuating a millennial tradition. For more information: bit.ly/QeswachacaPeru
Q'eswachaca - The last Inca bridge
High in the southern Peruvian Andes, an ancestral ritual has been taking place every June for 600 years. Do you know what it is? Well, if you don't know, we'll tell you about it here. This incredible ritual is the renewal of the Q'eswachaka, the last surviving Inca bridge, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. More than a thousand campesinos from the Quehue communities gather for three days to weave a new bridge of ichu (a native wild straw), following the same ancestral methods of their ancestors.
So, before starting the renewal, a ritual ceremony is held to ask for permission from the "Apus" (divinities) and the "Pachamama" (mother earth); and then this tradition begins, in which the old bridge is dismantled, the ichu is collected and the new one is woven. At the end of the weaving, a festival of indigenous dances is celebrated, where the new Q'eswachaka, 28 meters long and 1.20 meters wide, will be ready to be used for a year, connecting the communities and perpetuating a millennial tradition. For more information: bit.ly/QeswachacaPeru