Festivity of the "Chinchilpos y Gamonales" ("Tayta Niño") in the Central Andean Highlands of Peru

Abstract

The Central Andean Highlands of Peru is well known for its cultural diversity, for the historical background of its ancient peoples; Among its cultural activities the festival of the "Chinchilpos y Gamonales" (traditional and religious) takes place. This ritual related to agricultural activity is celebrated the last week of January in the district of Huayucachi, a virile and vigorous Andean town, located seven kilometers south of the Huancayo province, Junín region. The problem investigated was: What are the characteristics of describing the religious festival known also as "Tayta Niño" (father child)? What is the origin of the clothing and the sumbanakuy of the "Chinchilpos" and Gamonales "; The objective was: to describe the religious festival also known as "Tayta Niño" (father child), as well as the originality of the clothing and the sumbanakuy of the "Chinchilpos" and Gamonales ". In the research, an ethnographic methodology was developed, with direct interviews with the “older blacks” and the black dancers of the “Chinchilpos and Gamonales”, as well as other main cultists of this festival. The results concluded that the religious festival of the "Chinchilpos and Gamonales" has its origin in the confrontation for the possession of land and water; Andean sustenance as a ritual of agricultural fertility, as the specialists consider it, of confrontations between sides from above and below, as sectors that inhabit the Andean space.