We are in the Kapak Raymi season, the rain is more and more occupied this time, the fresh wind greets us and tells us about the arrival of the December solstice. Corn crops sprout in every furrow, green takes over every family plot in the communities. There are mothers who regret that this rain did not come in September and still hope that these or their drops will nourish the roots of our crops. This kind care and gentle view of the weather and the crops are the rituals and the day-to-day wisdom that the ayllu carries out.

Kapak Raymi is the practice of nurturing and marking the much broader knowledge that Saragura’s sister societies hold aloud; on the contrary, in northern communities we continue to create spaces to remember it. There are few mothers who do rituals, a few days ago my aunt, who is a healer, celebrated this ritual from the heart, she thanked the 4 elements with her voice. Furthermore, he asked that our wisdom never end. This kindness is not taught by concepts, but by the pedagogy of love, example and experience.

On the contrary, I saw more tayts celebrating it in public and urban spaces. The difference is in the privilege they are given as men and this combines with patriarchy to abuse power and violate women’s rights. Of course, it is wrong to generalize, but I invite critics to know how to question them when it comes to the wisdom of ancestors and when power is abused. Also for the right to have a Kichwa and spiritual name, they chose to name themselves from Kichwa, with names such as Amaru, Amawta, Kuri, Yaku, Raymi, Inti, among others. Each of these names has a really strong meaning in our language. However, they are harmed if their practitioners, despite talking about ancestral knowledge and celebrating rituals, unfortunately mistreat women. There are several cases where they positioned themselves as taytas and harassed and abused women or their companions. So, we are talking about violence against women in the mother tongue. Unfortunately, it is a loud silence and its practices deserve to be investigated and stopped. Let’s remember that the first step against violence is to stop hiding it.

There is no epistemic or intercultural justice if, on top of that, the rights of female and feminized bodies must be violated. Within our Kichwa wisdom we talk about duality, parity, but it is not enough if we ourselves do not respect it and only mention it in speech. It is not a true duality if it is only functional. There is an urgent need for more voices from mothers, from more aware tayts, from women, from feminized bodies, it is urgent to reconsider ourselves, not to celebrate rituals only as an intercultural program, but to make it a horizontal pedagogy full of love of life. We seek mothers not to fulfill the functional equality of the sexes, nor to folklorize wisdom, but because it is necessary and we deserve to talk and learn from them. (OR)