and this world. The earth shrines denote being, space, and
time, the metaphysical concepts for the universe, which are
intertwined in each of the three gradient levels; thus the
mountain serves as an expression of Andean cosmology.
The uma pacha is the point of origin and return for tra-
ditional Andeans. The highlands are the head (uma) of the
achachila. Bunchgrass grows near the summit of the moun-
tain, as hair on the head. The wool of the llamas that graze
on this grass resembles human hair. As human hair grows
after cutting, so llama wool and bunchgrass grow continually
in the highlands. In a manner similar to the regeneration of
hair, humans and animals originate in the highland lakes, or
the eyes (nawi) of the achachila. The sun dies into these eyes
of the highlands, but from the reflections within the lake
come all living creatures. The lake’s reflections (illa) are the
animals and people returning from inside the earth to this
world.
Animals and people originate in and return to the head
of the mountain. It is the place of origin and return, like the
human head, which is the point of entry and exit for the
inner self. The dead travel by underground waterways to the
mountain’s head, the uma pacha, from whose lakes they can
arise to the land of the living. The living emerge from the
eyes of the mountain (the lakes of the uma pacha), journey
across its head, chest, trunk, and legs (high, center, and low
levels), and die in the lowlands. They are buried and return
with the sun to the uma pacha, point of origin and return.
SICKNESS AND HEALTH. Western medicine ascribes sickness
to internal disorders of the body or to the malfunctioning
of organs within it, whereas Andean curing looks outside the
body to the malfunctioning of the social and ecological
order. Bodily illnesses are signs of disorders between the per-
son and the land or between the person and his lineage. The
diviner’s role is to reveal this conflict and to redress it by ritu-
al, which resolves the dispute or reorders the land. Diviners
cure not by isolating the individual in a hospital, away from
his land, but by gathering members of a sick person’s social
group for ritual feeding of the earth shrines of the achachila,
because if their lineage and mountain are complete, then
their body will also be complete (healthy). Community and
land are inextricably bound to the physical body, and disinte-
gration in one is associated with disorder in the other.
One illustration of how diviners interrelate environ-
mental and social factors with sickness is the mesa de salud
(“health table”), a commonly performed ritual in the Andes.
This ritual begins with a preliminary divination session in
which the diviner casts coca leaves to determine the causes
of an illness. Relatives of the sick person attend and contrib-
ute to the analysis of the causes. Diviners then redress social
conflicts within the lineage. If the sick person, for example,
has fought with her mother-in-law, the diviner delves into
the cause of this conflict and instructs the patient to gather
some ritual item from the mother-in-law’s household. The
participants then spend several days gathering ritual items
symbolic of the various altitudinal levels: chicha (corn beer)
and carnations from the lowlands, potatoes from the central
lands, and llama fat and a fetus from the highlands. The
gathering of the ritual items reinforces the concept that
health is related to the utilization and exchange of resources
from different levels. Indirectly, the ritual affects health by
reinforcing the need for a balanced diet. In this way, Andean
ritual promotes holistic health rather than merely removing
disease.
Traditionally, Andeans distinguish between curanderos,
who cure with natural remedies, and diviners (yachaj), who
cure with supernatural remedies. Andeans have many classes
of curanderos, revealing a striking knowledge and classifica-
tion of anatomy and an enormous list of medical parapherna-
lia. Because they have excelled in the practice of native medi-
cine, Andeans have adapted to an environment that produces
many stresses (hypoxia, hypothermia, malnutrition, and epi-
demics). Qollahuaya herbalists, for example, use approxi-
mately one thousand medicinal plants in curing. Andeans
visit both diviners and herbalists for treatment of a disease,
because both kinds of specialist are needed to deal with all
the physical, social, spiritual, and ecological factors involved.
CHRISTIANITY. Andeans have incorporated Catholicism into
their traditional way of life by stratifying it according to place
and time and thus allowing it to function in ways analogous
to the function of an earth shrine. For many Andeans, Ca-
tholicism is a state religion that replaced the Inca religion.
Every Andean community has a chapel with a statue of a
saint who is the patron protector of the village. Sculptors
mold a realistic statue from plaster of paris, and seamstresses
dress it with velvet and gold cloth. These statues appear al-
most alive, like waxworks. For some Andeans, the saint rep-
resents a white rock; for others, the saints are transformations
of the dead ancestors whom they venerated during Inca
times.
Annually, each village celebrates a fiesta to its saint,
whose statue is paraded around the four corners of the plaza
while brilliantly costumed groups dance to the music of
flutes, drums, and trumpets. The official sponsor, the preste,
walks alongside the saint, for which privilege he provides the
participants with alcohol, coca, and food. Ritual and natural
kin, as well as people in debt to the preste, contribute supplies
and sponsor dance groups. For the first day or two, the fiesta
is a celebration of great beauty and festivity, but by the third
day it often degenerates into drunkenness and brawling. One
reason is that during recent times raw alcohol has replaced
the traditional beverage, chicha, which has a much lower al-
cohol content. However, alcohol and coca also relax the par-
ticipants, making them susceptible to the liminal meanings
of the fiesta—the basic Andean meanings being expressed in
the dance, music, and ritual. These elements are highly struc-
tured and communicate underlying symbolic patterns im-
portant to Andean culture.
Although the cult of the saints reflects the importance
of Catholicism in contemporary Andean culture, Andeans
are only nominal Catholics: They baptize their babies pri-SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE MODERN ANDES 8619