(24 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cotacachi, Ecuador – 24 June 2024
1. Various of Indigenous people from the rural communities of Cotacachi dressed in their traditional outfits, dancing on streets celebrating the Inti Raymi
2. Various of Indigenous people arriving to the central square of Cotacachi to perform the symbolic dance of the Inti Raymi
3. Indigenous people watching dancers
4. Various members of the communities dancing
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Joselino Puerez, Leader of the Cumbasconde Community:
"This celebration (of Inti Raimy) comes as a thanks to the Father Sun, for having given us our crops, our corn, our beans, with this we make our food, we make our drink which is chicha. This is to thank the Father Sun and Pachamama, which is the Mother Earth that gives us food. This is celebrated every year in our communities and especially in the Indigenous communities."
6. Indigenous people dancing in the central square
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Elvis de la Torre, Dancer from the Community of San Martin:
"We get accustomed (dancing) every year so as not to lose the tradition. This is what is called resistance, Indigenous strength, which we demonstrate every year (in this celebration of Inti Raymi)."
8. Various ofIndigenous people dancing in the central square of Cotacachi celebrating the Inti Raymi, instruments
STORYLINE:
Indigenous people in northern Ecuador approached the town of Cotacachi, dancing and stomping with so much power that one could feel the earth vibrating, as they celebrated Monday’s Inti Raymi, a historic observance to give thanks for the harvests.
The ancestral dance is part of what would be translated from Quechua as, “Fiesta del sol,” to thank Pachamama or Mother Earth for the crops that have just been harvested.
This occasion is always celebrated with typical food and a corn ferment drink, which quenches thirst and multiplies energy.
Cotacachi, 70 kilometers north of the capital Quito, is a picturesque tourist town, next to the active Cotacachi volcano.
Until a few years ago, the Inti Raymi festival ended in deadly fights between Indigenous communities who sought to have dominion over the square.
Now authorities have imposed schedules for the entrance of each community to the central square of Cotacachi, and the fights have practically disappeared.
In preparation for the celebration, small groups of Indigenous people travel to different communities to invite and consolidate the group that will take part in the main celebration.
The day before, around midnight, the dancers undergo a purification bath ritual which signifies the cleansing of the body and spirit.
The dancers enter a type of trance that allows them to sing and dance between 12 and 18 hours a day, always with a "chicha" drink to replenish their energy.
AP video by Cesar Olmos
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