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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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Child’s Artwork in Huaraz: Care for Our Water & Air
We visited a school in Huaraz, where the children had created art works about the environment. Some showed melting glaciers, or apus -- mountain deities -- losing their "ponchos" (white snow). This child's picture depicts the need to care for our water and air.
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Greetings from the Glacier Pow-wow
The United States is doing a good, not-so-small thing in Peru by co-sponsoring (via USAID), with The Mountain Institute, an international conference in Lima and Huaraz on the topic of “Adapting to a World without Glaciers.” El Fotografo and I were graciously invited to be part of this effort, which brings together social scientists and biophysical scientists working on climate change. The idea is for all of these brilliant minds to come up with suggestions on how to cope with the pending water crisis in Peru. (Just to clarify: EF and I aren’t scientists. We just like to hang out with them.) So much to learn from these interesting people. El Hijo is coming…
