Last experience blog of the course!
When Jon asked us to discuss encounters, I thought of the moments when I tell people my name. Oftentimes when I tell someone my name is Cissy, I observe (since Jon wants these experience blogs to be more about observation) that they look confused for a second. At first I thought it was because my name is literally “sí sí” AKA “yes yes” in Spanish. (Apparently my name means “pee” in Cantonese so that’s great). But when I got to Pisac, I was informed by multiple people that sisi actually means “ant” in Quechua and people were surprised that I was named Ant. The other day, I found out the little black cat that we’ve encountered roaming around the cafes and botanical garden of Pisac is named Sisi! Just an interesting observation about names and their varied meanings.
Through the sickness and stress of the past few days, I’ve almost forgotten about the excitement of Inti Raymi! During the festivities in the Plaza de Armas, I think it’s interesting to note that I observed what was an extremely sunny day suddenly become cloudy when the Inca entered into the square. I don’t know what this indicates. Is it a bad omen? During the part at Saqsaywaman, I was nervous when I began to feel drops of rain. I thought, oh now this has to be a bad omen. Turns out I had nothing to worry about! I observed that each time an offering was made, the sun came back out, both during the offering of the chicha and the sacrifice of the llama. The sun came back so strong it was almost unbearable. What does this mean? Was the event timed to be this way? Was it a coincidence? Or was it something more?
When we hiked up to the Pinkuylluna ruins on our last day in Ollantaytambo, our tour guide Jhon (Jon? John?), pointed out the sun temple of the Ollantayambo ruins on the mountains across from us. He told us that on the winter solstice of June 21st, which we had missed by a day, you would usually be able to see multiple rays of sunlight converging on the temple. But that wasn’t the case this year. Jhon said that this year, it was cloudy. I asked him what this meant. What did it indicate to the Incas if it was cloudy on the day of their most important celebration for their most important god Inti? Jhon said this never would have happened during Inca times; he said it was never cloudy on the winter solstice until recently. And it’s because of climate change. I don’t have the meteorology or climatology or atmospheric science background to explain why, but I do know that climate change leads to unpredictable changes in weather patterns.
Here, I observed how climate change disrupts Indigenous lifeways by disrupting ways of understanding and keeping time. It disrupts agricultural cycles, shifting times of sowing and harvest — knowledge which has been developed over countless years on the land and passed down through generations, and which now has to adapt rapidly to changing conditions. It disrupts what can grow on the land and when, especially as unpredictable rainfall forces farmers to choose drought-resistant varieties.
I’ve been listening to Lenin on loop as I write my position paper. In his song Nuestro Mensaje, I think he sings (I can’t find official lyrics), “Pachamama es la vida”. Pachamama is life. I think about that a lot.
6 replies on “Final experience blog”
The comings and goings of the sun during Inti Raymi were also very interesting to me and I had the same observations and wonderings about whether it was an omen or not. The Incas were very superstitious it seems so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a connection there.
Pachamama is life.
Hey Cissy:)
Great blog post! thank you for sharing all of your observations. I also observed the weather patterns during Inti Raymi and had the same suspicions of ‘bad omens’ and also that they offerings worked when the sun came out!! Such a cool experience. I’ve no doubt that climate change disrupts indigenous practices and I think it is a perfect example of one of the many harms that result from colonization and capitalism.
Hey Cissy! I loved your blog. While at Inti Raymi, I too felt very apprehensive when it started to rain — I was also thinking “is this a bad omen? what does this mean? will they mention it?” But like you, I was also relieved to see the sun come out in FULL FORCE upon each sacrifice (though my skin suffered a bit I fear). That is super interesting that Jhon said the clouds were because of climate change. I have studied climate change, specifically in Peru actually (because of El Niño) and that makes so much sense — thank you for enlightening me to your discussion and questions you posed, because I too was wondering what the Incas would have done if Inti Raymi was overcast.
Hey Cissy, loved your post.
When it was starting to rain at Inti Raymi I found it to be very ironic on one hand, very foreboding on the other hand, and a saddening reflection of a changing climate on a hypothetical third hand. I joked with those sitting next to me that the budget went up for Inti Raymi this year so they could add some weather manipulation, much like the 2008 Olympic ceremony in Beijing where they shot chemicals in the air to stop the rain…resulting in rain falling everywhere except over the stadium. Ok ok I’m yapping, But there is something GRIMLY poetic about the longstanding festival of the SUN being rained on as a result of climate change. Sign of the end times? perhaps
Keep on rocking in da free world, peace and love
“Pachamama es la vida”. Pachamama is life. I think about that a lot.
What a wonderful and fitting end. Loved your blogs this trip and also spending time with you. Each made the other better.
Also ‘see’ or ‘si’ in Cantonese actually means poo. ‘Lieu’ is pee. (I am sure I could be better at the phonetic spellings but here we are). And since it’s ‘si si’ or ‘see see’ it actually means poopoo. One ‘see’ is equivalent to one ‘poo’ or ‘poop’. just fyi.
Hi Cissy,
I enjoyed the style in which this blog was written. You make a series of observations and generally remain neutral about those observations. I think that’s in the spirit of this course, since humility is a prerequisite for “unlearning”. Thanks for sharing!
Gabo