In the Quechua and Aymara communities of the Andes, from Peru and Bolivia to northern Argentina and Chile, the earth is not just soil to be farmed. It is a person, a mother who nourishes, who is hungry and thirsty, who can be generous or offended. Her name is Pachamama. Around her one of the most widespread and living ritual forms of the continent has developed: the offering called despacho or pago a la tierra, «payment to the earth».
The name and the figure
The word pacha in Andean languages has a broad meaning: it means earth, but also time, space, the world as a whole. Mama means mother. Pachamama is therefore the mother of the living world, the force that makes potatoes, corn and pastures grow, and that sustains animals and people.
She is not a distant deity. She shows herself in fields, springs and stones, and the relationship with her is a daily one. Before drinking, many people pour a few drops on the ground: this is the ch'alla, a simple gesture acknowledging that the earth too must receive its share.
The apu and the powers of the landscape
Alongside Pachamama are the apu, the spirits of the great mountains, considered protectors and ancestors of the communities living at their feet. In the Cusco region, Ausangate is one of the most powerful apu. Among the Aymara similar figures are called achachila, «grandfathers».
The Andean landscape is thus inhabited by presences with whom good relations must be kept: mountains, lakes, rocks with names of their own. Communities greet them, name them in prayers and offer them gifts.
Reciprocity: the principle of ayni
To understand the despacho one must know the concept of ayni, reciprocity. In Andean social life ayni governs the exchange of labour between families: today I help you sow, tomorrow you help me. The same principle applies to relations with the earth and the mountains. Whoever receives must give back; whoever takes without giving breaks the balance.
The despacho is the fullest way of giving back. It is not a purchase of favours, but the settling of a natural debt, because life itself is a continuous gift that calls for gratitude.
How a despacho is made
The despacho is prepared by a ritual specialist, often called paqo, or by an elder of the community who knows the rite. On a sheet of white paper laid on a cloth, the paqo places many elements in a precise order, each with a meaning:
- seeds and grains, such as corn and quinoa, standing for fertility;
- sugar, sweets and candies, because the earth «likes» what is sweet;
- llama fat, considered a precious offering;
- shells, coloured threads, small metal objects;
- flowers and petals;
- coca leaves arranged in groups of three, the k'intu, over which a prayer is breathed.
Each k'intu is offered by dedicating it to an apu, to Pachamama or to a specific intention. Finally the bundle is carefully closed, tied and, according to local tradition, burned, buried or taken to a sacred place. The smoke or the earth carries the offering to those it is meant for.
August, the month of Pachamama
In many Andean areas the month of August is especially dedicated to Pachamama. It is said that at this time, at the end of the dry season and before sowing, the earth is «open» and hungry. Families prepare offerings, dig small holes in which they place food and drink, and ask for a good farming year. In northern Argentina the festival of 1 August is particularly heartfelt.
Tradition and syncretism
After the Spanish conquest, the Church tried to root out Andean cults. Pachamama often survived by being linked with the Virgin Mary: in many colonial images the Virgin wears a mantle shaped like a mountain. Today many believers live Catholic devotion and offerings to the earth without contradiction.
In recent decades the despacho has also been offered to tourists as a spiritual ceremony. This has spread knowledge of the rite, but has raised the problem of its transformation into spectacle. In the communities, the despacho remains an act of relationship with a concrete land, with specific names, mountains and fields.
In short
- Pachamama is the Andean Mother Earth, a living and close presence, not a distant deity.
- The apu are the spirits of the mountains, protectors of the communities.
- The principle of ayni, reciprocity, governs relations between people and with the earth.
- The despacho is an ordered offering of seeds, sweets, coca and other gifts, then burned or buried.
- August is the month when the earth is considered «open» and receives special offerings.
