Strange name for a citywide celebration... until you learn that this holiday is based on the folklore that a young Quechua shepherdess came running into town (Quillacollo, a city next door to Cochabamba) yelling in Quechua "¡Orqopiña! ¡Orqopiña!", referring to what she claimed was an appearance of the Virgin Mary on the hillside where she was shepherding her sheep.
The several day celebration and festivities comes to an end with a "caminata", an all night walk from Cochabamba to Quillacollo (around 7.5 miles). Food vendors line the highway on the road to Quillacollo and many pilgrims stop along the way to eat a midnight dinner or snack. The end of the caminata ends at the base of the Cerro de Urkupiña.
Most arrive in the early hours of the next morning, and head to the cathedral to pay their respects to the statue of the Virgin Mary.
In the cathedral, they light candles, pray and ask the Virgin Mary to provide for the most pressing needs they have for the year to come. Thousands and thousands of pilgrims come from all over Bolivia to pay their respects and to ask the Virgin Mary to meet their needs.
Once they've prayed at the cathedral, many continue up the hill to buy miniature replicas of what they've prayed for (houses, cars, food, money, etc.) and ask the local indigenous priests to bless the replicas they've purchased so that they will turn into the real thing.
Many "buy" miniature plots of land that are outlined with rocks or spray paint for the day, representative of what they hope will also become reality. They then will "ch'allar" the land, spilling out an offering of beer or chicha (fermented corn beer) on the land as an offering to Pachamama, the indigenous Earth Goddess. Some will also do a k'oa (a burnt offering of incense and other items) for Pachamama. They also will break off a piece of rock to symbolize the land they wish to have and will keep the rock as a symbolic memento of what they believe the Virgin Mary has promised to give them (as well as Pachamama...).
The celebration starts with the entrada, a colorful day of dance troupes dancing the traditional bailed of Bolivia through the streets of Quillacollo, and ends several days after, the day after the caminata.
* Most pictures taken from Los Tiempos, the local Cochabamban newspaper
Most arrive in the early hours of the next morning, and head to the cathedral to pay their respects to the statue of the Virgin Mary.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing about this custom. Didn't you do the all-night walk when you first arrived in Bolivia?
How sad to hear about the bondage that these people experience, putting their hope, trust and finances in these replicas that cannot provide for their needs and especially the longing in their souls.
We pray for God to show His grace and truth.
And we pray for rain to come soon.
Keith & Melissa
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