Blessings to the Mother Earth. Today marks the start of Pachamama Festival, an Incan rite lasting the month of August, celebrating the gifts from the land and making sacrifice for a good harvest.
Pachamama is celebrated in pueblos all over the North West where the indigenous rituals are still rigorously observed. Sahumerios are on sale all over Salta City – small packages of sulphur, herbs and incense burned to rid the home of negative spirits, purify and invite in love, money and abundance. By nightfall the city is covered with a smoke thick enough to stir memories of the burning of the soja in the campo last year. It’s a serious occasion though – the Jujuyena woman who explained the tradition to me had tears of emotion in her eyes.
The ritual begins with prayers and offerings but always ends raucously with folkloric music and dancing. There is an all-day celebration on Balcarce, that is mostly geared to tourists but is still fun, as is the one next Saturday on the Plaza. To really appreciate the profound spirituality of this sacred rite, an extended journey must be made (as is customary) into the Calchaqui Valley or to the tiny pueblo at Tolar Grande high in the Altiplano.
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