Cusco: Cultural Insight at the Choquekillka Parade

Cusco breathes tradition. While walking the streets you see women in traditional attire carrying posessions or their kids with a “manta” (squared woven cloth). You hear andean music coming from restaurants. And if you listen carefully you will notice that some conversations are in Quechua, not in Spanish. I was lucky to stumble upon a parade showcasing some of these deep traditions.

It was our third day in Cusco. We all had lunch as a family, James took Vienna to our homestay for a nap, and I headed towards the city center to explore. As my bus was about to reach my stop, the driver grew impatient with the cars ahead of us. A parade was approaching from half a block away in the opposite direction and if the cars in front of us didn’t move fast enough we would be stuck for a while. Luckily we just made the cut and I could get off at my stop just as the parade arrived.  With no appointments on my calendar it was a no-brainer: I had to go and check out the parade. 

We were warned that there could be impromptu festivals and parades, as well as strikes and protests in Cusco. I was glad it was the former, and even more glad that I was there to see it. Surprisingly there weren’t many crowds in the street at the moment, so I could secure a first row view standing on a corner of Avenida del Sol where the parade was marching.

What initially seemed like a short procession ended up being 20 minutes of folklore groups playing traditional music and dancing. It was an amazing sight! You could tell the groups had been practicing for a while. The dresses were meticulously selected and mostly hand-made. It was past 2:00 p.m. and the sun was hot in the dry city of Cusco. Some of the dancers looked tired, but mostly they looked joyful and proud. 

Returning to our homestay, I wanted to learn more. I learned that the parade was held in honor of “Señor de Choquekillka,” the patron of Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley, a town that we would visit some days later. Legend has it that many years ago a cross appeared in a beam of light above a whirlpool in the Vilcanota river close to the town. Choquekillka is a Quechua word meaning “room of gold,” which refers to the place where the sighting occurred.  

The festival mixes Catholic traditions (the parade opens with a cross decorated with colorful flowers, necklaces and medals, with a gold-framed picture of Jesus’ face adorned with a golden crown), colonial influence (there was a group including bullfighters and someone with a huge bull mask), and indigenous traditions.

Some of the dancing groups consisted of women who want to honor their faith in God, and/or project themselves as strong and resilient. According to a local newspaper, this tradition enhances solidarity and kinship in communities through the sharing of a common memory. You can see some snipets of the festivities here.

What I saw was the final act. The events had started at 6:00 a.m. (no wonder some performers seemed a bit tired that afternoon!). It was great to see people actively preserving their identity and that of their ancestors amid increasing pressure towards global uniformity with the pretext of progress.