Pago a La Tierra

I had such an amazing and unique 4th of July, nothing like years past. There were homemade fireworks that I bought on the market street in Cajamarca, that were lit from our small patio from a cigarette - but that is the only (kinda of ) similarity to other 4th of July celebrations.

Hugo and I held an inauguration to our new countryside art pad. We invited all our friends and family (that is in Cajamarca) to come and bring positive energy to our new place. One of our friends, Oscar, brought his band to fill our air with rock Andean tunes. Oscar plays the Clarin (remember from last year's blog? - the long cane traditional instrument that sounds similar to a sax) and had to maneuver cleverly through the dancing crowd so that he could make his music touch our 2nd floor ceiling. And, the dancing crowd was pretty thick - so that gives you an idea of how good the music was.

We had a Peruvian type potluck where friends brought drinks and deserts to share and we ate lots of potatoes and sauces and eggs, in true Peruvian style.

Once the food and music had come to an end we started a ceremony called, "Pago a La Tierra," roughly translated into "Paying/Honoring the Earth." Hugo has a good friend, Nidia, from Cuzco who performs this ceremony every year in her house to bless her space, give thanks to Mother Earth and ask for Protection, Peace and Love to live and reign in her home. It is a traditional ritual that dates back to pre-Inca times. I desperately wanted Nidia to perform this ceremony in our new home so that we may give thanks for being where we are and receive the blessings that the ritual has to offer. She agreed.

The ceremony included forming a star that was outlined by grains (wheat, rice, etc..) and then slowly filling it with different elements that provide specific blessings; salt, sugar, pepper, chocolates, crackers, and finally cocoa leaves. Coca is a powerful element in Peru; besides healing stomach aches and altitude sickness it also holds great spiritual energy. All of our guests received 3 coca leaves. One by one each guest presented their leaves to the "gift'" star and named a street or hill that they would also like to be blessed. By the time everyone presented their coca leaves our star was complete and we had collectively named more than 2 dozen streets, hills, mountains and communities that would also receive our prayer through the ritual.

We lit a bonfire in the grass patio in front of the house. We waited for the fire to die down into bright ashes. We had wrapped our star in giftwrap to present it to Mother Earth as our offering and prayer. The gift was placed on the ashes as wine, champagne and traditional Chicha (a Peruvian drink made from purple corn) were circled around the gift. We then left our gift to sit under the stars until early this morning when Hugo and I buried it in a small hole in front of the house.

Truthfully I didn't understand and many never understand all the details that went into our ceremony last night. But Hugo and I fell asleep in a deep peace and security that we had said our prayers to the Earth, Space, and God we know, to Bless us here and now and in our future together.