From the perspective of the First Nations, the ceremony sites are places of spiritual connection and a meeting of beings from the territory and the cosmos. In these gatherings, the Earth receives an offering, and the human spirit is harmonized and strengthened from the cosmogenic order that is generated along with the universal cycles and the movement of the vital elements within the Earth.

          For this reason, we speak with the water, with the mountain, with the rock, with the forest, with the stars, with the sun and the moon, with our dead ones. We seek to embody the tight braid between human-nature-spirits.

          In this way, we remember that our ancestors were careful and contemplative of nature in order to understand its movements and the signs that emanate from the cosmos.

           Among the Quechua Yanakuna from southern Colombia, we call the places of offering and communication Waka. Waka are the places that bridge with the spirits, with the beings that we don’t see but know are there, united with the forces of nature. It is in this way that we speak with our spirits who are activated and perceive when certain rituals are conducted that contain concentration, song, dance, the word of fire, and the word of master plants such as koka, tobacco, ambil paste, ayahuasca, huachuma and others.

          Among the powerful Waka of the Yanakuna territory, to the south of Cauca, Colombia, we have, among others that I am not going to name, the following:

The Waka Amaru Yaku is located on a cliff and is known to be the place where the serpent of the sun came out at certain times to drink the water of Yurak Mayu (the Blanco River).

The Waka Quinquina is related to the bird of the same name and is the place where our ancestors who preferred to bury themselves with their treasures rather than to submit to their enemies reside. Paradoxically, the Church, with its powers of domination, installed a Cross in this place. Nonetheless, our ancestors continue in the depths of the Waka. Through the force of Nature, they have knocked down the Cross. 

The Waka Punkurku, also known as Apu (mighty hill), rises above the place where our ancestors held their ceremonies, the Wachiconu River. To this day you can hear the sounds of whistles and doors opening and closing. It is said that the ancestors are there with the gold, protecting. Anyone hungry for gold who breaks into the site could suffer a painful death. This place is the guardian of water.

The Waka La Patena, is a place where sounds and voices are heard at certain times. Artifacts of gold have been found here as well as subterranean circles. This is also the place that receives water from the tropical highland moors and gives it to the region.

         If we understand this, we realize that the places chosen for the passing between life and death, such as burial sites, high plains and spaces near water, are of great importance to the permanence of knowledge, writings on ceramics, weavings, or rocks. These should be protected because they are the memory of generations that came before us: the memory of the relationship between humans, the cosmos, waters from our origin, the Earth Mother.

Directives and Connections From the Mama Yaku (the Water)

There is no culture nor people that does not refer to and revere the Gods and Goddesses, through the Mama Yaku (Mother Water). This is true not only in the West, but also in all of the cultures from our Abiayala (a land in full maturity) known universally as the Americas. In the Yanakuna Quechua world, the water has to do with the origin, it is the All of life, and it is from her that the images, stories, legends, and songs that circulate through the three worlds are condensed. These worlds are: the UKU PACHA, where the vapor beings, TAPAKU, live; and the KAY PACHA, where the rivers intertwine throughout the mountains, carrying away and bringing both happiness and pain. The rivers also bathe the cosmic serpent who knows all of the stories, both human and the non-human. There is also the above space that buries itself in the firmaments, the HANAN PACHA, that permits the rivers and creeks from the cosmos to overflow in order to engender life in the land that will continue the cycle that has been traced by hand by all Gods possible.

        Because life must be protected, we must raise consciousness regarding the sacred sites, the vestiges of the inheritance from our ancestors. However, it is equally important and fundamental to raise consciousness about the affluent life of the tributaries that form the spiritual seal of the sites of offering. The rivers go on, they do not stop, and –like time upon human lives– they leave and take with them history, story, legends.

       We say that to defend the waters, the ravines, and the springs is for us to remain, for our dead to remain, for the generations to come to remain. To defend is an act of universal love, it is a matter of connection of human beings with Mother Nature, with our territory, and with our origin. To defend is to value the beings that have come before us in time, action, and in the development of wisdom for the good life.

(hover mouse for english translation)

Apu teksi
Cayqan ima kawsay katiy mukmuy ukupachamanta
Ima sut’uy tarpuy cay pukyupay
Imari cuchumanta makikuna pallay yakupay
Imari qan catiy ñan ukhu kurkuna
Hina llumpay nunamanta.
Apu teksi mana saquillay ima yakupay pisichiy sisaykuna 

Mana cuchukuna aqu punun
Ch ́usurapuy ch ́aqiyk cay llakimana
Mana qichuy koyllurkuna puriy sut ́upay llakilachiy
Ima cay kurku yahuar nunari
¡ayau apu teksi!
Sakillai ima intipay ukyay chhulla
Pakariymanta imari killapay much ́ay pukyu
Tutakuna munaymanta purakilla
Ima isankupay ukyay ima sisipay llaqway
mallki raphimanta mana chinkachiy
ima ch ́iqlla Taki qatiy urmay tamiatuta
ima waranka takikuna yakuta cay kallpa runamanta 

waqyay napaykuy kawsaytapay

Ayau hiau parayquicta cachamuy queu, queu, queu, 

mama, Ayaya runay rurak unuyquicta cachamuy; 

wakayllicuni.

(hover mouse for english translation)

Aririri hatun Taita yakumanta sonkoyta
Aririri hatun Taita yakumanta sonkoyta
Aririri hatun Taita yakumanta sonkoyta
cuyarikuna yachakuna
cuyarikuna yachakuna
Yakumanta qhulla sonkoytaaaa
yakumanta qhulla sonkoytaaaa
Aririri hatun mama sonkoytaaaaa
Aririri hatun mama sonkoytaaaaa
Machukuna yakumanta
Machukuna yakumanta
Yakumanta yakumanta yakumanta
Aririri kay qhulla sonkoyririri ri ririraaaa
Hei jé. hei jé. hei jé. hei jé. hei jé…