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Climate Change & Disappearing Glaciers, Festivals, Sacred Rituals, Religion, Peru's Andes Mountains, Traditions + Rituals, Water
Three-faced Ukuku, Guardian of the Glacier
In Andean culture, ukukus represent mythical bear-men who guard the glaciers at Qoyllur Rit'i pilgrimage and assist in other village rituals. Each year, young men volunteer to serve as their village's ukukus and bring health and prosperity to the community. Jorge photographed this ukuku at the June 2006 Qoyllur Rit'i pilgrimage. They wear masks to protect themselves from the cold, but this ukuku was sporting one with three faces. In his hand, he holds a whip, used to fight the condemned souls who haunt the glacier and to punish pilgrims who drink alcohol at the festival, which is forbidden.
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“Soy Andina” Now on YouTube
Back in 2008, I befriended a New York filmmaker who had made an intriguing documentary set in my newly adopted country. Mitch Teplitsky's "Soy Andina" traces the journeys of two New York women who travel to Peru to connect with their heritage through dance.
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Remembering Pachacamac
It was so long ago, Jorge was using actual film. He shot these three images in succession. It was 2008 or so, and Jorge, Sam and I went to the ruins of Pachacamac, on the coast of Peru, not far from Lima. It is an ancient fortress site that pre-dates the Incas, and as you can tell from these photos, it is very, very dusty. That’s Sam on the left, me in the middle, wearing my mother’s scarf. A Peruvian hairless dog was walking around in a yellow t-shirt. As you walk from one ruins to the next, you stumble on bits of broken preColombian pottery, but you cannot pick…
