Pachamama

Pachamama is the earth venerated as a living mother in the Indigenous traditions of the Andes. The name combines two words shared by the Quechua and Aymara languages: pacha, whose meanings include earth, world, and time, and mama, meaning mother. Quechua and Aymara communities across Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and northern Argentina address Pachamama in daily life, thank her for harvests, and ask her protection for families, animals, and crops. August is the month dedicated to her offerings.

The Month of Pachamama

The first of August is the principal day of offerings to Pachamama, and ceremonies continue throughout the month. August falls at the end of the Andean winter, before the sowing season begins. Andean tradition holds that the earth awakens hungry after the winter and must be fed before she can feed the people. Families and communities therefore give back to the earth before they ask her for the new planting season. On the first day of August, many farming communities also let the soil rest and do not work the land.

The Offerings

The most widespread offering is the Challa, a libation. Before drinking, a person pours the first drops of the drink onto the ground as Pachamama's share. The drink is often chicha, a fermented corn drink of the Andes, or wine or beer. In many places the Challa is practiced throughout the year, and in parts of the Andes it is repeated on the first Friday of every month.

In northern Argentina, the central ceremony is the Corpachada, the feeding of the earth. A pit is dug in the ground, and cooked food, drinks, coca leaves, and sweets are placed into it as a meal for Pachamama. The pit is then closed, incense is burned, and words of thanks are spoken.

Coca leaves are part of nearly every offering. Andean peoples hold the coca plant sacred, and its leaves are presented in small arrangements of three, called K'intu. Larger offerings are prepared on a ceremonial cloth that carries coca leaves, seeds, sweets, and other elements, and the completed bundle is burned or buried. In Peru this offering is known as a Despacho. Ritual specialists lead the larger ceremonies: among the Aymara they are called Yatiri, and in the region of Cusco in Peru, Altomisayoc. In the religion of the Inca Empire, llamas were offered to Pachamama; today the offerings consist of food, drink, coca leaves, and symbolic objects.

History and Continuity

The veneration of Pachamama is older than the Inca Empire, and within Inca religion she was among the principal deities, presiding over planting and the harvest. Spanish colonial rule imposed conversion to Catholicism and suppressed Andean religious practice. The veneration of Pachamama continued, and for many Andean communities she became associated with the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus in Christian belief. Today the offerings to Pachamama and Catholic practice exist side by side in much of the Andes, and many participants take part in both.

The ceremonies are held in villages, in family homes, and in cities. Andean tradition frames the offerings as reciprocity: the earth gives to the people, and the people give back to the earth.