Fiesta de Urkupiña.

A little girl shepherded her sheep on Cota hill near Quillacollo, when a very attractive woman appeared to her with a boy in her arms. The girl talked to her and they met the next day. This happened for several days, so she decided to tell her parents. Not convinced, her parents and other people from the village accompanied her to the hill to check what she said. As they got closer, you could see the woman waiting with the child in her arms. Upon seeing her, the girl screamed uruk piña, uruk piña (in Quechua "already on the hill"), but when she reached the summit where the woman would meet, she had disappeared, leaving her image marked on the rock. This is the story, which dates back to the 18th century, and gives rise to the Festival of the Virgin of Urkupiña, celebrated every 15th of August, where mainly peasants participated with large troops of dances, tinkus, bands, sikuriadas, tarqueadas, diabladas and so many more.

Palabras Claves
Urkupiña
traditions
celebrations
dances.
Autor
Carolina Franch & Samuel Linker. Licenciados en Antropología. Universidad de Chile.
Recibido
Aceptado
Revista Chilena de Antropología Visual - número 3 - Santiago, Julio 2003 - 242/253 pp.- ISSN 0718-876x. Rev. chil. antropol. vis.