The World of the Andean Peoples

This is something I wrote a few years back for a little publication with an international focus.

The original peoples who inhabit the Andean Region of South America, like every culture, have their stories of how the world is and how it came to be. Many of these beliefs pre-date the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century but have evolved as a result of their contact with missionaries.


The Aymara people believe their origins lie in a liaison between the Sun and the Pachamama (Mother Earth) on an island in the middle of Lake Titicaca. They believe this gave origin to the “first humanity.” However that humanity, semi-gods, displeased the Sun who destroyed them. A second attempt was more fruitful and the contemporary humans are the result.
The universe of the Andes is constructed of three parts: The Upper Realm (Alaxpacha. the sky), the Middle Realm (Akapacha, the earth) and the Lower Realm (Mancapacha, the underworld). In the Upper Realm the main actors are the Sun and Lightening. The Sun governs all the cycles of life; Lightening is the origin and force behind the process of civilization. The Spirits of the Upper World (Apus) inhabit the peaks of the mountains. Even today there are annual pilgrimages to holy places high in the mountains in order to intercede with the Apus for the needs of the family and the community. The most famous of these is the Kollu Riti.

The Middle World is governed by the Pachamama and has been inhabited by the First Humanity (that disappeared) and the Second Humanity (today). The Allyu, or human community (village) is constructed around harmony with these three realms.

During the Inca Empire, the official religion centred around attention to the Sun while in the rural agricultural communities the focus was on the Pachamama (the Mother Earth). Pachamama occupies an extremely important place in the life of the Allyu and is invoked at every stage of the agricultural cycle through rituals of thanksgiving. One of the rituals is that of the ablution. Before sharing a drink, Andean people will usually pour a small amount of the liquid onto the ground as a thanksgiving for the abundant fertility of the earth. The most common gift to Pachamama is the coca leaf (considered sacred by Andean people for its power to provide energy and protection against the cold in the high mountain regions). If they did not have the coca leaf to chew on, Andean people believe they could not survive the work in the fields at altitudes of 4000-5000 meters.

The major force of the Underworld is the Earthquake and its main action is the Pachacamac. The Pachacamac is a major social upheaval in which the world is turned upside-down. The belief in Pachacamac has had a major influence on the relationship between the Andean Peoples and their European colonizers. When the Europeans first arrived they were welcomed as the emissaries of Pachacamac come to make everything right. When they turned into oppressors, it is said that the head of the Inca was buried in the Altiplano and that one day would grow a new body and rise up from the Underworld as the Pachacamac to make things right again. The entire history of the Andean peoples is riddled with revolts against the Spanish domination. Almost always Pachacamac was invoked and became a mobilizing force for the revolt. The most recent case was that of the rebellion of the “Shining Path” in Peru during the 1980s. In all cases, the revolts unleashed official repression and significant deaths. The conflict between Shining Path and the Government cost 60,000 lives.

The Andean worldview is shaped by contact with fundamental, practical and transcendent forces that affect their survival. Upon those foundations the Andean grasp of truth rests and its community of relationships is established. The “Story” transmits a tradition, answers fundamental questions about identity and origin, and provides rules to govern the community. We may tend to think that such a world view is quaint and primitive. However, it has made it possible to the Andean people to maintain their identity for centuries. It provides a creative and foundational basis for dealing with contemporary issues when combined with insights from other sources such as modern science and sociology and in dialogue. Given the headlong plunge of Western civilization into self-destruction, perhaps we have something to learn from a worldview that recognizes how we are bound to earth, to the sky and to one another in complex inter-relationships.

There are many parallels between the worldview shared by Andean peoples and the worldview present in the Bible. The Bible presents us with a world consisting of heaven, earth and hell – a three-fold division of creation. God and his angels inhabit the heavens and the Evil One is to be found in the Underworld. Spirits inhabit this universe; they are called angels and perform important functions for God and for our welfare. There is a Creator and a Redeemer. All this certainly made it easier for the first missionaries to proclaim the Gospel.

Christians in Western societies today live their faith within a vision of the world that is largely shaped by contemporary science. It is a very different world from that of the Bible and that of Andean peoples. Nevertheless, we do not see any contradiction in this. Many scientists today insist that their scientific expertise fosters awe at the work of the Creator. Nor do the Andean people find a contradiction between their faith and their vision of the universe.

How then do you understand the universe? Is it compatible with your Christian faith? How valid then is the worldview of the Andean people? Do you think there can be more than one way of understanding the world we live in that is both valid and compatible with a Christian faith?