Every June 24th, the centre of Cusco, Peru fills with hundreds of musicians and dancers for Inti Raymi, the city’s most popular event. Spectators arrive at the Qorikancha Sun Temple before 6am to stake out their spots for the beginning of the show, and more go early to the Plaza de Armas and Sacsayhuamán Inca temple for the second and third acts. They wait for hundreds of dancers and musicians representing the many ethnic groups conquered by the Inca and to see the Inca himself, a coveted role usually played by a Cusqueñian.
Actors recite their lines in Quechua, the language of Cusco for centuries, still spoken by about five million Peruvians. Vendors sell printed programs with Spanish and English translations of the script. This masterpiece of musical theatre was written by Peruvian intellectuals and historians in the 1940s, based on descriptions of a winter solstice celebration called Inti Raymi, practised when the Inca controlled much of South America.
The Quechua name translates to ‘Sun Festival’ or ‘Sun Celebration’ – held near the shortest day of the year, winter solstice, it celebrates the imminent return of warmer, wetter weather. June is winter in Peru, and summer is when the rains come.
Though the actors and dancers may change from year to year, the script is the same. In the first act, representatives from dozens of ethnic and cultural groups arrive to show their allegiance to the Inca ruler, called the Sapa Inca. In the second act, an oracle reads coca leaves and predicts possible problems for the Inca. In the third act, a fake llama is sacrificed, and another oracle reassures the Inca that all is well in his realm.
Many Cusqueñians go every year, as much to see the spectacle as to enjoy each other’s company. It’s a holiday in Cusco, with streets throughout the centre of the city blocked off and hundreds of people lining the sites of each act.
The first act is held at the Qorikancha (pronounced kori-con-cha), once the largest Inca temple in Cusco, built by the Inca Pachacutec in the early 1440s. During colonisation, the Spanish built a church on top, but today you can still see Inca temples to the sun, moon, thunder, lightning and rainbows inside the walls of the Convento de Santo Domingo. Around 9am dancers file out of the church’s cloisters, filling the gardens below and dancing to the Andean flutes and drums they play. The Inca and the Qoya, his wife, eventually emerge, along with the Inca’s main generals and advisors.
The dancers go from the gardens up to the streets above, leading the Inca uphill to the Plaza de Armas. Called Huacaypata during Inca times (pronounced how-kai-pa-ta), the modern Plaza de Armas has a statue of an Inca in the centre, perched on top of a colonial fountain. Every June, the fountain is covered with fake Inca stonework, creating a dais for photo ops every day until the 24th, when the Inca ascends the stairs and recites his lines from the top.
The third act is at Sacsayhuamán (pronounced sack-sigh-wah-mon), an ancient Inca temple that looms over the city from the hillside above. Erroneously called a fortress by the Spanish, this temple complex was the largest in Cusco, where archaeologists have found sacrificial offerings brought from throughout South America.
I’ve lived in Cusco since 2019 and I go to Inti Raymi every year, with the obvious exception of 2020, when all events were cancelled due to the pandemic. Every year, I pick one of the three acts and go early to stake out my spot. Many elderly Cusqueñians go at daybreak with little folding stools, both to get a good spot and to avoid the crush of people arriving late.
I love sitting among the elders, whose Quechua language skills are almost always better than the younger generation, because they’re so friendly and they translate for me if I ask. Often their grandchildren will arrive late, squeeze through the crowd and sit on their grandparents’ laps, asking for translation if I don’t.
Among the crowd I always spot a few international tourists, with their cameras and reusable water bottles covered with stickers and hiking outfits, often freshly back from Machu Picchu. Each of the three locations has bleachers where you can pay for a seat guaranteed to have a good view, and most of those spots go to tourists who opt for a guided tour of Inti Raymi. Having an assigned seat means a person can see all three acts, without having to get there hours early.
Guided tours usually include transportation and a guide to translate Quechua. Without a tour and seats in the bleachers, it’s very difficult to see the whole event. It’s a long, uphill walk through crowded streets to get from the Qorikancha to Haucaypata to Sacsayhuamán. Though the actors do it singing and dancing, with some playing flutes, it’s not easy for somebody who is new to high altitude and tourists routinely feel out of breath. Cusco sits at about 3,400 meters above sea level, 11,155 feet.
One year, when I was sitting on a grassy hill above Sacsayhuamán, waiting for the actors to make their way up from Haucaypata, I chatted with three Peruvian sisters. They had come on the overnight bus from Puerto Maldonado, a large town in the Peruvian rainforest, and were even more excited than I was for the show. It was their first time at Inti Raymi and their first time in Cusco. They were surprised by the crowd but also thrilled to be part of such an important cultural celebration.
Thousands of Peruvians flock to Cusco every year to see Inti Raymi, some for the celebration of their ancestral culture and history, some for the pageantry of hundreds of costumes and dances, some to spend the holiday with family members who live in Cusco and some to see their friends and relatives who have a part as an actor, dancer or musician.
For international visitors, the event may be sensory overload, but it’s always worth it. Inti Raymi has something for everybody.
