August arrives with offerings to Pachamama in the Bolivian Andes

August is the month dedicated to offerings to Pachamama, Mother Earth, in the region of the Bolivian Andesto give thanks for the harvests, a thousand-year-old tradition that survives despite the climate change which has disrupted agricultural cycles.

Throughout the month the mountains near the Andes mountain range become pilgrimage sites to perform rituals of gratitude to the Mother Earth.

About 30 kilometers from Peace At just over 4,200 meters above sea level, the summit welcomes pilgrims who come to make offerings to Pachamama at the feet of a stone statue of Christ with outstretched hands. Christian prayers mix with ancestral rites in the voice of the amauta (Aymara priest). Grober Carlos Keys who officiates the ceremony dressed in a multi-colored poncho.

“People, especially shopkeepers and housewives, come to give thanks for everything they have received last year and to ask for new wishes and aspirations. Now everyone is asking for the situation to improve because the economy is bad. It is a deep-rooted custom“, says the amauta.

At the feet of Christ are the charred remains of the offering, which may include food such as grains, sweets or symbolic items such as counterfeit money. In addition, as a trace of the presence of believers, there are plastic bottles that contaminate these sites that believers consider sacred.

Under this mountain range whose peaks are losing snow due to climate changethe green Andean slopes and river gorges stretch out.

According to the Andean worldview, Pachamama wakes up in August, hungry and thirsty, after the dry winter season and she must be fed and given water for the beginning of a new agricultural cycle that will arrive with the first rains of spring in the Southern Hemisphere (September). although the rains are arriving later and later.

“This belief is passed down from generation to generation, it comes from our ancestors so that we can do well, to have good health, money and well-being,” says the merchant. Julio Chavez who has arrived at the ceremony with his family to make an offering.

It is an act of reciprocity with Mother Earth, to whom we give thanks for the fruits received and to ask for good harvests, says the anthropologist. Milton Eyzaguirre.

In a traditional neighborhood of La Paz called the “street of witches”, colorful stalls overlooking the street offer during this month the Offerings for the “tables”. Among the things they sell are homemade sweets, colored wool, aromatic resins and fake paper dollars that are used to call money. Llama fetuses are also offered, since the llama was considered a sacred animal by the Andean peoples.

All that and more burns in small bonfires.

The indigenous migration rooted these customs in the cities and towns where offerings are made to ask for good health, good business, love and money, he says. Margaret Streeta seller of offerings.

For experts, climate change punishes these highland areas with frosts, droughts, reduced snowfall, and agricultural cycles are frequently delayed, causing a decrease in harvests. Despite this, faith does not diminish among Pachamama devotees who continue to make offerings of gratitude every year.