WINTER SOLSTICE "AYMARA NEW YEAR" TIAHUANACO - BOLIVIA
The new year Aymara begins on June 21, with the winter solstice and the beginning of a new agricultural cycle (new sowing season). This is the time chosen for the celebration of the Andean New Year.
This feast is perfectly integrated into our culture, and nothing has been able to uproot it from our hearts. The ancient indigenous farmers of the Andean highlands, were governed by the observation of various astronomical phenomena to guide them in the moments that had to initiate the diverse agricultural and livestock tasks, like sowings, harvests and shears to the Andean camelidos.
It is the moment of the beginning of a new year, with the voice of our ancestors, in the eternal song united to the heart of Mother Earth and the one of the Universe "Pachamama and Pachakama"
With the brilliance of the first rays of sun and the hope of unity of the universe that inspires us to unify our hearts in the joy of life and to understand the sacred journey.
In this new time it is important that we assume the generational responsibility of being beings and bridges that form an active part of the reordering of life in this Pachakuti process.
TIAHUANACO
This was an ancient sacred city of South America and the most important. Although little is known of its history, it is believed that it was the cradle of an empire that extended by the plateau. Every June 21st, colorful indigenous ceremonies are held in the place, reminiscent of a past full of splendor.
"This day the first rays of the Sun penetrate the door of the temple of Kalasasaya and illuminate the magnificent Monolith" Ponce ". The Andes of Bolivia, Chile and Peru, celebrate this day the beginning of the Andean New Year, amid rites and offerings to Inti (Sol) and La Pachamama (Mother Earth) who also invoke the fertility of the earth with the sacrifice of llamas , Whose blood is an offering to the Sun and Earth and other Andean deities to ensure agricultural and livestock prosperity.
The purpose of the rite is to ensure the reproduction of life with the blessings of the Sun for sowing and harvesting and this rite recalls ancient practices of the Aymara communities.