Largest Indigenous Religious Pilgrimage in Western Hemisphere

Media outlets such as National Geographic speak of Qoyllur Rit’i as “the largest indigenous religious pilgrimage in the Western Hemisphere.” But how big is it, really?

The number of pilgrims most frequently cited by writers is 40,000. I’ve also seen estimates at 60,000 and 80,000. Wikipedia lowballs attendance at an incredible 10,000 pilgrims.

But these figures seem skewed when you visit the site when the pilgrimage is in full swing.

I tend to agree with a volunteer for Peru’s Civil Defense, who puts total number of pilgrims at around 300,000 over the four days of the event. Dr. Victor Andia, a doctor who runs the Civil Defense medical tent at the Qoyllur Rit’i shrine, has assisted at the last 24 (!) pilgrimages and has seen the event grow substantially since 1984. In 2006, he estimated that about 100,000 pilgrims camp out in the Sinakara Valley over the course of three nights. (He arrived at that estimate by comparing the crowd size at QR to that at Peru’s National Stadium, in Lima, which holds 50,000 people.)

Andia adds to that 100,000 “overnight” figure that of another 200,000 traveling pilgrims, who make the climb to the sanctuary and return home that same day.

I believe Andia’s figure of 300,000 is reasonable and accurate. The picture above shows the Sinakara Valley on May 17, 2008, filled with tents and makeshift shelters set up by this pilgrims. Note that the valley was only partially filled when EF took the picture. The landscape became even more crowded on Sunday and Monday nights, May 18 and 19, when the pilgrimage reached its height. Our own campsite was so crowded, we were hemmed in by other tents on three sides.

It’s time for officials to revise their estimates of attendance at Qoyllur Rit’i. The pilgrimage is massive and understaffed for an event of its magnitude.

Note that Woodstock, in 1969, drew 400,000 attendees.