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Inti Raymi - Festival of the Sun
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INTI RAYMI

The Inti Raymi was established by the Inca Pachacútec in the 1430 A. C., and was celebrated every year during the winter solstice of the southern hemisphere - the day when the Sun was farthest from the Earth. It was the most important ancestral festival in Tahuantinsuyo to which people from the four suyos used to go. The celebration was last attended by the Inca in 1535.



Today, the tradition is maintained as a theatrical representation charged with mysticism and spirituality. The celebration route begins in Coricancha, the ancient religious center of the Inca capital, where with dances and songs an offering is made to the Inti (Sun god).
DATABASES
The Inti Raymi was established by the Inca Pachacútec in the 1430 A. C., and was celebrated every year during the winter solstice of the southern hemisphere - the day when the Sun was farthest from the Earth. It was the most important ancestral festival in Tahuantinsuyo to which people from the four suyos used to go. The celebration was last attended by the Inca in 1535. Today, the tradition is maintained as a theatrical representation charged with mysticism and spirituality. The celebration route begins in Coricancha, the ancient religious center of the Inca capital, where with dances and songs an offering is made to the Inti (Sun god).
The Inti Raymi'rata (Quechua for "Inti festival")[1] is a traditional religious ceremony of the Inca Empire in honor of the god Inti (Quechua for "sun"), the most venerated deity in Inca religion. It was the celebration of the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year in terms of the time between sunrise and sunset – and the Inca New Year, when the hours of light would begin to lengthen again. In territories south of the equator, the Gregorian months of June and July are winter months. It is held on June 24.[2] During the Inca Empire, the Inti Raymi was the most important of four ceremonies celebrated in Cusco, as related by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The celebration took place in the Haukaypata or the main plaza in the city.
The Inti Raymi is a festival takes place on June 24th in the Fortress of Sacsayhuaman, Cusco. In Quechua Inti means Sun and Raymi celebration. Inti Raymi is the celebration of the God Sun, the most venerated god in Inca religion. According to Inca tradition, Pachatutec, the first Inca, created the Inti Raymi to celebrate the winter solstice which marked the first day of the New Year in the Inca calendar. The winter solstice begins on June 21st but according to the Incas, the sun stays in the same place until the 24th when it finally rises. Therefore, every year on June 24th the festival of the Inti Raymi takes place in the city of Cusco.
The history of Inti Raymi goes back to 1412 AD when the ninth Sapa Inca (emperor) Pachacuti established that the festival should take place every year during the winter solstice to honor their god Inti and celebrate the Inca New Year. This Fiesta del Sol or “Sun Party” was the most important celebration of the year in the Inca calendar and symbolized the mythical origins of the Inca people. The festivity also represented the connection of the Sapa Inca with his people, as he would enter the big square of Saqsayhuaman in Cusco walking over flower petals and surrounded by the Pichaq, a kind of priests that brushed away any evil spirits that could have been in the area. Finally, the Inti Raymi festival also served as a “new fire” celebration, as at one point the Sapa Inca would order to put off every fire lit in Cusco, only to start a new fire with the new year. That fire would then light all the other fires around the city.
El "Inti Raymi" o "Fiesta del Sol" era la festividad más grande, más importante, espectacular y magnífica llevada a cabo en los tiempos del Imperio del Tahuantinsuyo, el cual basaba su religión en el culto al Sol. El "Inti Raymi" fue creado para rendir culto al "Apu Inti" (Dios Sol) también conocido en ciertos sectores como “Apu P'unchau” (Dios Día). Durante la época de la conquista, los súbditos del Inca siguieron festejando la fiesta a escondidas de las autoridades españolas y un mestizo llamado "Garcilaso de la Vega" recopiló lo mejor de esta fiesta y lo plasmo en su famosa obra "Comentarios Reales" La entrada del Inca a la Plaza de Armas o a la explanada de Saqsayhuaman estuvo siempre presidida por un grupo de “Acllas” que rociaban flores y a su vez estaban acompañadas de los "Pichaq", hombres que se encargaban de espantar con escobas de paja a los malos espíritus que podrían haber en el camino. El inca en todas sus actuaciones al aire libre estaba siempre acompañado por su “kumillo”, o jorobado enano que portaba la “Achiwa”, especie de paraguas o sombrilla hecha de plumas de colores.
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