With the first rays of dawn that lit the darkness of night, was heard the profound wail that filled hearts, echoed among the nearby hills and in the distance. It was the beginning of one of the most splendid religious festivals of the Tahuantinsuyo empire, the Inti Raymi when nobles, priests and influencial personages joined their voices with those of the people to thank the Sun god for lighting his lands and sustaining life.

Today, Inti Raymi is a reconstructed ceremony that starts off with a ritual practiced during the Inca empire. It was an illustrious Cuzco man, Humberto Vidal Unda, who had the idea of staging it in June 1944, writing a script that would serve as a base for the first festivity of this name. Before the arrival of the Spaniards in Cuzco, every June 22 the Incas worshipped the Sun as being the chief source of life. This is the date of the winter solstice, a moment when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the equator. Perhaps this was why the ancient dwellers of our land honored their divinity on that date, with the aim of not letting Earth move further away from him, so it wouldn't lose itself in the dark cliffs of the universe, and so that harvests might be abundant and famine would not fall on the Tahuantinsuyo.

First page Walk to Sacred Valley