The Original People of Peru: The Quechua (Indigenous People Documentary) | TRACKS

[Music] south america peru high up in the andes the quechua [Music] few places today are as hard to reach as kamawara high in the andes of southern peru and surrounded by its ring of mountain spirits [Music] foreign a [Music] there are no roads leading to kamawara no communications not even a village street the few dozen houses are scattered over the hillsides and separated by rock fields and animal trails anything that comes here comes the hard way up the steep mountain footpaths the altitude is about two and a quarter miles above sea level anyone from below not acclimatized since childhood struggles for breath with every effort in the thin air the community has been here for as long as can be remembered today it has about a hundred families living and farming much as they would have done before the spanish conquest or the days when peru was ruled by the incas the people are quechua the group spread all along the highlands of peru and neighbouring countries the quechua of kamawara have had little contact with spanish culture only men who have been away speak any spanish the women only quechua they're experts in one main crop potatoes apart from a little barley and beans nothing else grows at these altitudes on its mountain kamawara is sealed off from the rest of the world as effectively as if it was in the middle of the jungle simone and his wife like most couples in kamawara have come together without any formal kind of marriage but their relationship will probably last a lifetime nonetheless foreign simone followed the usual custom of building his own house new on leaving his father's home because parents traditionally hand their houses on to the youngest son in return for being looked after in old age though simone's house is some distance away from any neighbors he has picked a site close enough to the other members of his family to call on them for help when work needs to be done in the fields with all the plowing done by hand kamawarans have no way of lightening the work other than family cooperation even so it will take them the whole day to finish this field the kamawarans measure land not by size but by the number of days it takes three men to apply it and this is a one day field simone's father and head of the family is toribio who in all has four sons and three daughters working the other plow is luis simone's eldest brother simone's potato crop will be under the protection of the apus or spirits located in the natural features of the andes landscape in mountains rocks streams and lakes the earth itself [Music] the bigger the mountain the more powerful it's apu [Music] in more recent times another kind of religion christianity has been fervently accepted here but the our pools have not been driven away each year about 10 000 pilgrims make the punishing climb to a remote and on the face of it christian shrine called kolyariti but the shrine is within view of aosangate tallest mountain in southern peru [Music] foreign a good deal of maneuvering goes on for the position of patron to the contingent which journeys to collarity this year it is simon's brother luis and the final packing and preparations take place outside his house it's not a cheap honor the patron provides food drink and firewood for everyone's journey he pays for musicians he's expected to slaughter a pig or a sheep a rare luxury for feasting before and after the pilgrimage his outlay brings him no authority the contingent is led by another office holder the maestro who this year is maximo offering luis some of the drink which luiz himself has paid for [Music] another major office on the pilgrimage is to be cross bearer there are two of them both young women [Music] shares out the goods provided by the patron mostly potatoes and firewood this system ensures that everyone not only gets his fair share but carries it the drink is trago a fire water made from sugar cane as everywhere the effect is to make the proceedings livelier but in kamawara perhaps because the houses are cut off from each other and the rest of the world there are particular barriers of aloofness and mistrust which only alcohol can overcome there is very little social activity in kamawara that is not helped along with drink the main focus of the pilgrimage is a small painting of christ a kind of icon called the lamina wrapped for safe keeping it is the most revered object in kamawara the chief reason for crossing the mountains each year to kolyariti is to recharge the laminar with sacredness which is drained away during the year perhaps too it contains all kamawara sins accumulated since the last visit and these will vanish at the shrine after the rigorous journey the cold early morning and the pilgrimage begins along the footpath leading out of kamawara on their backs the food the firewood the women's babies as they reach the edge of their home territory the kamawarans make a ritual halt where each participant can take it in turn to kiss the laminar stubby the long trail across the hills lasts for the rest of the day [Music] a truck ride paid for by luis takes them over one part of the journey at least for which there is a road the truck will drive on all through the night at the foot of the trail leading up to the sanctuary the usually near deserted locality of mauayani becomes for a few days a vast camp and parking lot for the thousands gathering to make the climb [Music] among them now the contingent from kamawara perhaps as important as a meal is a final drink of trago because beyond this point with the sanctuary relatively close drinking is forbidden the climb to the sanctuary is an exhausting five miles up a single narrow footpath the shrine is more than two and three quarter miles above sea level high enough above the surroundings for even local people to feel the lack of air and another hardship for the relief of penitent sins piles of rocks mark the approach to the sanctuary the stones are treated with as much reverence as the cross placed on top christianity devout though it is is unmistakably an implant on the older religion of apostles [Applause] [Music] the contingent from kamawara rest for a while beside the path [Music] they are almost within sight of the sanctuary now at the end of the hard [Music] climb [Music] to escort the lamina along the final stretch the kamawarans change into their dancing [Music] nearby other contingents are doing the same come on the kamawaran's costumes like all the costumes worn at collioriti are stylized caricatures of other distant inhabitants of south america they have no special explanation for the costumes perhaps by dressing as pagan outsiders unaffected by the mountain religions they are trying to protect themselves as they bring the lamina along the last few yards to the source of sacred the power await their turn behind a group representing savage jungle indians then for just a few minutes after the hours of travel the kamawarans are at the center of attention as they approach the sanctuary [Music] me [Music] inside the sanctuary above the altar the senior of kaliariti a figure of christ painted on a rock large rocks have been worshipped as rocks for centuries before the catholics came and put this one behind a glass showcase the kamawarans have to elbow through the crowds of pilgrims to reach the altar with their laminar [Applause] [Music] oh eventually they hand it to one of the lay brothers who organized the festival 35 men from the towns who hire the priest and collect the cash offerings maximo and the kamawaran dancers kneel in prayer and the lamina is left to bask all night in the presence of the senor and be recharged with grace [Music] uh [Music] the first job after depositing the laminar was to find a place to dig in for the night the cold is extreme and the kamawarans like most other groups protect themselves by huddling together each contingent keeping very much to themselves all around the sanctuary more turf is being dug up for makeshift encampments up the path a continuous stream of new arrivals concerned more with money than with grace is a small army of traders who set up shop among the encampments of kolyoriti traders are always mestizos that is people occupying the broad overlap between the indian and spanish way of life the grotto of the virgin mary is a second important reason for coming to colority here pilgrims ask for some special favor during the year to come the requests reinforced with cash this year is particularly significant for the kamawarans some of them have a wish which if it becomes reality will change their entire way of life [Music] the next morning the kamawarans dance up to the sanctuary to retrieve their lamina for the return journey [Music] back in kamawara the lamina is taken around in procession [Music] the church where the laminar will remain until the next year has no priest priests when they do come come from outside [Music] soon after there is another party in luis's house his last duty as patron some of the final ceremonies are not so much dances as contests between the men [Music] [Laughter] oh [Music] the role played by simon during this year's pilgrimage was accordionist while many kamawarans have never left the mountains simon earned the money for his accordion in lima the capital a world as far from kamawara as can be imagined simone speaks fluent spanish while luis is happy with the traditional prestige of the patron simone has another view of kamawara's future between them the two brothers represent the whole community's choice between progress and tradition [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] my the laws of nature cannot just be taken for granted each year a ritual has to be carried out to make sure that the sheep will be fertile like most activity in kamawara this is not conducted as a community event all the families perform the ceremony but separately in their own sheep enclosures up on the hillsides toribio's family with simon and the other brothers and sisters begin as usual with a few drinks foreign yes the huge jug contains chicha the local beer brewed from maize [Music] [Music] token drops of chicha are sprinkled in the direction of the surrounding our pools [Music] the sheep ritual itself begins with a tribute to pachamama the earth spirit then the chicha is sprinkled over the sheep all the suns have a vested interest in encouraging the sheep to be fertile because when toribio dies they will share the flock between them each member of the family matters a prayer to the spirits [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] now the sheep adorbed red the likely reason is that red is a color associated with people the dye is the same one used in garments such as ponchos and making people of the sheep will make them do what people are known to do copulate and have children in this way the sheep's fertility is guaranteed after the ritual the sheep are released [Music] each family goes up to a separate part of the mountain ridge and they continue the ceremony with dancing and drinking [Music] at sunset the dancing stops for one participant at least rituals are not the best way to guarantee the future what simon wants to see coming up the mountain is a road pass [Music] um [Music] foreign [Music] okay suddenly nice dish the school is the one intrusion so far from the outside world or rather the school teachers since the building was put up by the kamawarans themselves [Music] in its 10 or more years the school has made little impact lessons are in spanish but the quechua speaking children pick up hardly any the only real way they will learn spanish is if like simon they leave kamawara as young men and go to live in the town whatever they do understand from their lessons there is little use for it in camera link to the world of the mestizo trade money education officialdom is the path that leads down the mountain to san salvador the journey there and back can take around eight hours so it is never undertaken lightly simone's reason for going down is to get maize for making chicha san salvador the district capital would be completely bypassed by the new road the word capital is deceptive little more than a village its status stems almost entirely from its position on the present bus and truck routes naturally there is much opposition to the new road among the mestizos of san salvador people from communities such as camawara traditionally select individuals in the mestizo areas so-called compadres who act as their patrons and intermediaries with the outside world mestizos must accept the role if chosen but in return they obtain the indians full loyalty and more importantly first refusal on any goods he may want to trade the system favors the mestizo because the seller's market is restricted to the handful of compadres foreign [Music] foreign [Applause] you spreading this foreign foreign foreign [Music] ah my god the town that simon's road will make accessible is in the opposite direction framed by inca terraces pisac unlike san salvador is on the tourist circuits pisac's market has two distinct sections one for the tourists who want ponchos blankets llama rugs here the kamawarans would very quickly learn the use of money [Music] [Music] oh the side of the market catering for local needs deals in different products the kamawarans could sell their surplus potatoes here and buy fruit and vegetables they cannot grow themselves as well as the plastic goods and second-hand hardware of the mestizo [Music] traders [Music] social progress in the andes is measured in the styles of women's hats the lowest most rural grade is the lampshade kind worn in kamawara each locality having its own design and color the first step into the mestizo world of trading is the soft brown hat not specific to any area fully fledged traders and for instance the wives of truck owners wear the hard white hat the greatest distance from indian origins is shown by wearing no hat at all as the hierarchy of hats makes clear the lives that will be most transformed if the road comes to kamawara are those of the women at present the men at least travel into the towns the women hardly ever spending their time cooking child-minding and weaving ponchos and shawls the design is memorized she could do it with her eyes shut and is unique to the locality the kamawarans value these products in terms of usefulness and not so far in [Music] cash [Music] um [Music] assemblies are held in the square outside the church at least once a month and also on special occasions the men stand in a circle to avoid any suggestion of rank taking turns to speak so that everyone has a chance to lead or cajole the others into a group decision the language is quechua but because the assemblies are officially recognized by the authorities minutes have to be kept and so the secretary has to be a spanish speaker in kamawara that almost inevitably means simone [Applause] subjects range from the deficiencies of the school to the settling of local disputes but the most important topic on the agenda is the road the way to get it built is to apply for assistance to a government agency called synamos specializing in developing the remote rural areas of peru simon uses the meeting to push his plans to the next [Music] a foreign well [Music] having persuaded the assembly simon now has to take the application to cusco it's just a bus ride but simon's people after centuries of exploitation under the incas spaniards and landowners are more used to keeping well out of the way than requesting help the main square of cusco chief town of the region and once the capital of the inca empire yeah yeah yes supply the machinery and the technical know-how the kamawarans and other communities along the route provide the workforce now that a file has been opened simon is no longer worried about if a road will come but how soon [Music] if anything will change the kamawaran way of life it is not as elsewhere because the modern world is waiting to sweep it aside kamawara is so remote and difficult to reach that the rest of the world rarely troubles to come up kamawarans do however go down and their way of life will be altered from the inside by people such as simon perhaps even when this does happen the apus will continue to surround kamawara [Music] you

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

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Keywords: Peru Bolivia, peruvian indians, quechua indians, surma tribe, bolivia travel documentary, andes mountains documentary, andes mountains, highland indians, peruvian highland, bolivia highland, bolivian indian music, bolivian indians, national geographic, bbc, full documentary, national geographic documentary andes, documentary (tv genre), television documentary (tv genre), nature documentary (tv genre), south america

Id: y-4E_VUHKL0

Length: 49min 56sec (2996 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 31 2018