ABSTRACT
Q The pilgrimage to the shrine of the Senor of Qoyllur Rit’i (Star Snow) takes place every Corpus Christi fifty miles from Cuzco. Tens of thousands of Indians and mestizos from the region walk up 16,000 feet to the sanctuary to participate in five days of Catholic masses, native dances, and indigenous rituals. The chapel - complete with concrete walls, a bell tower, and an illuminated altar - commemorates a miracle where a divine child appeared in 1780 to a peasant boy. A sacred rock, which bears the image of a crucified Christ, is housed in the chapel. In the Footsteps of Taytacha (1985), a film by Peter Getzels and Harriet Gordon, features Quechua-speaking musicians and dancers who explain the segments of the ritual pilgrimage.
