The Inti Raymi festival was a religious ceremony held annually in June to honor the Inca sun god Inti. A historical reconstruction of the festival takes place every year near Cusco, Peru, attracting over 150,000 visitors. The ceremony involves a procession to the Sacsayhuaman fortress where the Inca leader makes offerings and speeches, dancers perform, and rituals like animal sacrifices and music are held to celebrate the solstice and renew life for another year.

1. By:
Anuradha Boodoo-Balliram & Natherly Ferguson
Inti
Raymi
Festival of the
Sun

2. INTRODUCTION
The Inti Raymi ("Festival of the Sun")
was a religious ceremony of the Inca
Empire in honor of the god Inti. Since
1944, a historical reconstruction of the
Inti Raymi has been taking place at the
ruins of Sacsayhuamán (two km. from
Cusco) on June 24 of each year,
attracting thousands of tourists and
local visitors.

3. THE FESTIVAL
 More than 150,000 colorfully clad natives and
tourists assemble in the morning at the fabled
Coricancha, or Sun Temple, where the Inca
(a local resident designated to play the part)
delivers an invocation of praise to Father Sun.

4. The royal entourage moves to the city's main
plaza, formerly the Incas‘ great civic
square. After a ceremonial reading of the
sacred coca leaf to divine the future of the
empire, the Inca proceeds to the massive
stone walls and zigzagging ramparts of
Sacsayhuaman.
The ruined fortress remains one of the most
astonishing megaliths of the ancient world - a
single rock battlement is estimated to weigh
more that 300 tons.

5. Dressed in full regalia, the honorary Inca
delivers his orations Quechua, the native
tongue that is still spoken in Andean highlands.
On Sacsayhuaman's broad plaza, a fire is
rekindled and a llama ritually "sacrificed"-
staged out of consideration for tourists.
Sounds of panpipes, drums and blaring horns fill
the air. Traditional dancers representing the
four corners of the empire dazzle the eye
with riotous flashes of red and gold.

6. Celebrations involve music, colorful costumes
(most notable the woven aya huma mask) and
the sharing of food. In many parts of the
Andes, this celebration has been connected
to the festivals of Saint John the Baptist,
which falls on the day after the northern
solstice (June 21).

7. The formal spectacle lasts just four or five
hours, but for an entire week Cusco
radiates renewed life and energy which
recalls the glories of its Incan past.