Day of the Quechua Language

It is more than obvious that Peruvians are proud of their Inca heritage. Anything from drugstores (InkaFarma) to soft drinks (InkaKola) is named after the Incas. However, the link between the high culture of the past and the indigenous population residing in Peru today is purposefully obscured. The indígenas grow to believe that their culture, traditions, and language are worthless.

According to the official mantra, Peru is a multifaceted and multicultural country that cherishes difference and its varied cultural heritage. In practice, many city-dwelling, white Peruvians want to have nothing to do with the “dirty” Indians. The rural, indigenous population is underprivileged by any standards. Basic infrastructure is lacking, and illiteracy, malnourishment and disease are widespread. Indigenous ethnicity correlates with poverty.

Until recently, Quechua (with its millions of speakers, the most widespread of Peru’s indigenous languages) had no official status and parents preferred not to teach their children Quechua although it was their mother tongue. Indígenas were treated as second-rate citizens and were told to speak “properly” – in Spanish, that is. Luckily the situation is no longer quite as bleak. Slowly but steadily, Quechua is gaining prestige and is already taught at many primary and secondary schools.

May 27th 1975 was a turning point for Peru’s Quechua-speaking minority: then-president of Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado, finally gave the Quechua language official status. Despite that advance, Peru is a long way from doing justice to its linguistic minorities. Quechua is only one of the 46 indigenous languages spoken in Peru, and the rest have no official status whatsoever.

On Wednesday May 27th Peru celebrated the Day of the Native Language to hail the linguistic diversity of its peoples. Since Warmayllu promotes the Andean cultural heritage and the Quechua language, we took part in the festivities. Early in the morning, all participants (bilingual schools, NGOs, academies, institutions, and the like) gathered in the Plazuela Belén, comfortably just outside our office. From there, we all headed up to the top of Santa Apolonia hill to make an offering to the Mama Pacha, Mother Earth. The pago consisted of fruit, bread, coca leaves, flowers, potatoes, chicha (a maize beverage), herbs, and the like. A shaman blessed the gifts, made a speech in Quechua, and poured some chicha on the ground to give Mama Pacha to drink. Then a bag of coca leaves went around, everyone picked three and stepped up to place them on the same blanket with the rest of the gifts.












Once Mama Pacha had been satisfied, we paraded down from Santa Apolonia to the Plaza de Armas where the festivities continued with speeches, music, and dance. Listening to all the speeches praising the Andean cultural heritage and demanding equal rights to the Quechua-speaking communities, I was moved to tears. The right to language and culture is a basic human right that should never be violated.