pilgrims sit during the Qoyllur Rit'i festival in Peru

Andean glaciers are melting, reshaping centuries-old Indigenous rituals

The Snow Star Festival, an annual religious celebration, has been an integral part of Andean tradition and beliefs. But climate change and COVID-19 are threatening that.

“It disappeared. And we asked ourselves, what happened?,” says Richart Aybar Quispe Soto, who has taken part in the pilgrimage for more than 35 years. “'Sin, it was sin,' they would say, and it wasn’t sin, it was global warming.”
ByAmanda Magnani
Photographs byArmando Vega
April 19, 2021
11 min read

At night, believers would use the reflection from the moon that cascaded atop snow-capped peaks as a guide to make their way up the sacred Colque Punku glacier. The tradition goes back centuries for pilgrims from various indigenous groups in the Andes who have made the journey through the Sinakara Valley in Peru during four days of religious festivities known as Qoyllur Rit’i, Quechuan for “the snow star.”

“When you go to Qoyllur Rit’i, you’re in a different space,” says Richart Aybar Quispe Soto, who has taken part in the pilgrimage for more than 35 years. “You get there, and you’re transformed. I go there to be in the snow, to be near the stars, to be close to the moon. I go there to see the first ray of the sun at dawn, to wait with great devotion, to return purified. Up there, we are reborn.”

pilgrims play a game during the Qoyllur Rit'i ceremony
Pilgrims take part in rituals at the sanctuary of the Lord of Qoyllur Rit'I that include prayers seeking health, peace and prosperity.
a dancer receives a priest's blessing at the Qoyllur Rit'i temple
A dancer from the Paruro nation is blessed with holy water during a Mass at the Qoyllur Rit'i sanctuary. Pilgrim participants, especially the dancers, have an unconditional faith in the Lord of Qoyllur Rit'i from a young age. "My father and my uncle danced, and they became great foremen within the nation. They told me that when my mother was pregnant…I liked to dance even when I was in her belly, because every time I heard a Wayri or a Chaquiri, I would get excited in her belly and start jumping," says Jeremy Said Chacon Delgado, who was 7 when he, too, became a dancer.
pilgrims participate in traditional rituals on the glacier
Only the oldest nations are allowed to climb the sacred Colque Punku glacier to perform some rituals. Dancers known as “Pablitos” who join the pilgrimage for the first time receive three lashes as part of longtime rituals.
Colque Punku glacier in Peru
Colque Punku glacier in the Sinakara Valley, Peru.

The Snow Star Festival has been an integral part of Andean tradition and beliefs. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, some 100,000 pilgrims would make their way to the Ocongate district in the southern highlands Cusco region of Peru. It is unclear if the festival will be formally held this year.

In recent years, the Colque Punku has lost some of its brilliance. The snow that turns into ice that forms the glacier is melting. Researchers have determined that tropical glaciers in the Peruvian Andes have decreased in size by about 30 percent in recent years.

 

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“The effects of climate change today are not only compromising our survival but our ability to find meaning,” says photographer Armando Vega, who has been documenting the Qoyllur Rit’i tradition since 2017. “I hope the pilgrims' display of reverence to an element of Mother Earth can change people's perception of nature not only as a resource to be exploited for our communal gains, but as a gift that must be preserved, as a window to the human spirit.” (Some of the world's biggest lakes are drying up. Here's why.)

The Snow Star Festival, traditionally in late May or early June, mixes Roman Catholic and indigenous beliefs, honoring both Jesus Christ as well as the area’s glacier, which is considered sacred among some indigenous people. A central part of the pilgrimage is a sanctuary at the base of the mountain where a boulder features an image of Jesus Christ known as the Lord of Qoyllur Rit’i (pronounced KOL-yer REE-chee). Believers dance and pray long into the night, seeking health, peace and prosperity.

pilgrims lower a cross onto a glacier as part of the tradition
Dancers carry a cross at dawn as part of four days of religious festivities known as Qoyllur Rit’i, Quechuan for “the snow star.”
pilgrims pray during Qoyllur Rit'i
Members of the Huarahuara community make offerings to the Pachamama (Mother Earth). "Humans connect with the earth in more ways than one. Our relationship, which is in fact dependency, is physical when we plough the soil. And it's vital when we harvest the fruit of our labor. But many of us in urban settings have forgotten that this relationship is also spiritual. We have forgotten that nature has guided our understanding of the world and ourselves… The effects of climate change today are not only compromising our survival but our ability to find meaning," says Lorena Rios, a member of the Huarahuara community and journalist.
pilgrims say prayers in Spanish and Quechua in Peru
Pilgrims light candles during prayers at the Lord of Qoyllur Rit'I sanctuary.

“We are not losing the ground we walk on. We are losing our mother,” Hélio Regalado, who has participated in the pilgrimage for 10 years as a Wayri Chunchu dancer, says of melting glacier.

Aybar Quispe, another one of the indigenous dancers known as the guardians of the glacier, says he is saddened by the knowledge that the melting ice means future generations will not experience the same kind of cleansing from the snow he was blessed with growing up.

“If the glacier were to disappear, I wouldn’t lose my faith if I couldn’t go to Qoyllur Rit’i, but I would be heartbroken,” he says. “A part of me would disappear.”

a man poses for a portrait in Peru
Lucio Uchura Ordoñez poses for a portrait inside his home in the Chuachua community in Q'eros. This region, recognized for being the home of the closest and direct descendants of the Incas, has undergone many changes in recent years. With the modification of the rain cycles, some have already modified their trades. More people are receiving visitors who want to learn about Andean culture.
a man poses for a portrait in Peru
Alejandro Quispe Huaman, an elder, poses for a portrait.
a family poses for a portrait in Peru
Three generations of dancers from the Quispe Soto family: Victor Quispe Quispe, grandfather, Richart Aybar Quispe Soto, father, and José Isaac Quispe Peralta, son. The three dancers have taken part in the Lord of Qoyllur Rit'i pilgrimage for decades and share concerns about the melting glacier. “My son is powerless, and this pains me a great deal. He wants to go to the glacier because I told him so many stories. But now, he can't.”
a woman in traditional clothing in Peru
During the celebrations of the anniversary of the Huarahuara community, in addition to the traditional dances and offerings to the land, the women usually wear colorful traditional dresses. The most stunning are from those who are single. Among the decorations are the "piñis" (bright white ornaments similar to sequins), which symbolize water. In addition, multiple flowers and other elements embroidered on both the montera (hat) and the pollera (skirt) show different components of the Pachamama, highlighting its integration into the daily life of the population.
a man poses for a portrait in his home in Peru
“When I walked up years ago, we didn't need, as we do today, lanterns to find the way,” says Richart Aybar Quispe Soto. “We had enough light from the glacier. When we arrived there at night, the moon began to rise—the mother moon—and little by little the area looked as if it were daytime. It was like heaven; it was a dream.”

The Andes, the longest mountain range in the world, spans seven countries — Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Peru. Seventy percent of the world’s tropical glaciers are in Peru and various studies have raised alarms at the rapid rate of melting ice in the region. (These Swiss villagers prayed for their glaciers to recede. Now they want them back.)

That has changed some of the longtime rituals.

In 2004, in an effort to slow down the rate of the melting glacier, festival organizers banned the practice of cutting blocks of ice to share with the community, believing the melted water had healing powers. “Many have cried. They broke down in tears, for this was a tradition of hundreds of years—but we had to make the decision to stop,” says Norberto Vega Cutipa, chairman Council of Nations of the Brotherhood of the Lord of Qoyllur Rit’i.

pilgrims make their way to the Colque Punku glacier in Peru
Road to the sanctuary of the Lord of Qoyllur Rit'I through the Sinakara Valley, Peru. On horseback or on foot, pilgrims carry their supplies, musical instruments, tents, bedspreads and everything else they will need during the four-day celebration.
a pilgrim looks at the Colque Punku glacier
Marcelino Lopez Ancali, of the Wayri Chunchu nation, stands before the Colque Punku glacier on which he was baptized as a child. The rocky area was once covered with ice. "Over the past five or seven years, the climate has changed. The cold and the heat are very different.” He blames pollution for the changing climate. “I do not know how we can prevent it. Sometimes people do not have the conscience to collect or recycle these plastics and we throw them anywhere polluting the environment…Now the sun is no longer as it should be. It is so strong, it's burning you. The cold too. It is not how it should be anymore."

Pilgrims remember the thick layers of ice from years past when the glacier was just a short distance from the site of the sanctuary and the moon illuminated the way. (Indigenous protectors of Colombia's sacred peaks have kept others out—till now.)

“When I walked up years ago, we didn't need, as we do today, lanterns to find the way,” says Quispe. “We had enough light from the glacier. When we arrived there at night, the moon began to rise—the mother moon—and little by little the area looked as if it were daytime. It was like heaven; it was a dream.”

“Describing how the glacier used to be is like trying to explain colors to a blind man,” says Quispe’s son, José Isaac Quispe Peralta,” also a dancer. “It’s impossible.”

The National Geographic Society, committed to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world, funded Explorer Armando Vega’s work. Learn more about the Society’s support of Explorers working to inspire, educate, and better understand human history and cultures.



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