Gender Roles in The Quechua Community

In the Quechua community there are strict gender roles. Some jobs are thought of as masculine in one society and feminine in another. While the gender roles of men in the Quechua culture permit them to venture out of the community to do things like hunt, and plant crops; the roles of women are designed to keep them close to home nursing children, and gathering grain and berries.
Women play a subordinate role compared to men in the community political structure. They are less likely to receive a formal education, do not hold significant positions of power within the community, and are excluded from many potentially profitable economic activities. A clear sexual division of labor exists with regard to both agricultural and household tasks. Within the family, women have a say in matters such as decisions about finances or issues surrounding the upbringing of children. Overall the Quechua people are a patriarchal society.

 Reference Cited:
Hemming, John
Countries and Their Culture:Quechua www.everyculture.com
Accessed March 22 2015

Religion: An Overview of Quechua People's Beliefs and Ritualistic Traditions

The Quechua peoples of the Upper Amazonian rain forest share not only many core beliefs but also its variants of beliefs. The Quechua religion consolidates both pre-Columbian and Catholic components. The most critical pre-Columbian impact that continues is the conviction that powerful entities oversee daily occasions, for example, climate and ailment. This belief serves a utilitarian purpose to the farming Quechua. By making offerings to the forces that control common strengths, the Quechua feel they can manipulate events and not only be vulnerable notwithstanding awful climate or malady. At the point when drinking liquor, for instance, it is standard to first offer a beverage to Mother Earth or the Godess, Pachamama.

This religious Andean world is populated by divine beings who have human characteristics. In some cases they cherish one another and different times they abhor and battle one another. Thus, the Andean religion has two measurements in the lives of the individuals. To start with, in human terms it advances social attachment, and second, in supernatural terms it interfaces divine beings and people. The Quechua have incorporated Christianity into their indigenous beliefs.

Major life transitions, such as birth, puberty, and death, are marked by rituals and celebrations that combine Catholic and indigenous traditions. Example of such can be observed at the annual two-day La Virgen de las Mercedes festival (known locally as the Fiesta de la Mamá Negra) in Latacunga, Ecuador. Officially a Roman Catholic religious celebration, during the first night of the festival, the alcohol bars are closed. The second day starts with a very roman inspired traditional mass. Following the mass, statue of the Holy Virgin is carried through the streets. Festoons are thrown by the people at the statue in hopes of receiving blessing and good favor followed by masked-costume, cross-gender dressing and street dancing form the bulk of the activities. A public parade demonstrating sacrificed, butchered pigs, ornated with accompanying other dead animals, cigarettes and wine bottles and liquor are also to be seen. "Men wear these ritual, pagan offerings to the spirits like a backpack as they accompany the dancers and musicians through the streets". This festival is considered as one of the most significant Quechuan celebrations;

References:

Whitten, Norman E

2012 Sacha Runa: Ethnicity and Adaptation of Ecuadorian Jungle Quichua.

http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Quichua, Accessed March 26, 2015.

King, Kendall A.

(2001) "Countries and Their Cultures." Quechua. http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Norway-to-Russia/Quechua.html. Accessed March 26, 2015.

Urton, Gary

(1997) The Social Life of Numbers: A Quechua Ontology of Numbers and Philosophy of Arithmetic. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2589701?sid=21105922309831&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&uid=3739600

Accessed March 26, 2015.

Waddington, R.

2003 The Quichua People. The Peoples of the World Foundation., http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Quichua. Accessed April 18, 2013.

Whitten, Norman E.

(1976) Sacha Runa: Ethnicity and Adaptation of Ecuadorian Jungle Quichua. Retrieved March 24, 2015 

Quechua Language

The Quechua language is one of the most common South American Indian languages that is spoken in not only Peru, but Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, etc. The Quechua language has been around since 2600 BC (Thompson, I.). In present times, Spanish is the official language in Peru but schools still try to incorporate Quechua in their studies and so far it has not been able to stick. The Quechua language has been lost and mixed with spanish over time (Maps of world). Some Spanish words are incorporated in the Quechua language and the pronunciation also differs from Spanish. In the Quechua language, the nouns are universal and does not distinguish between male or female. Quechua had no written alphabet before the Spaniards arrived, The Quechua used Khipu (Cotton or Alpaca wool) and tied the strings into knots to create numbers. Although the Quechua did not have an alphabet system, they made it work and were very creative (Thompson, I.).

Reference Cited:

Thompson, I.
May 16, 2013. Quechua. http://aboutworldlanguages.com/quechua
accessed March 24, 2015

Maps of World
2012 http://www.mapsofworld.com/pages/tongues-of-world/languages/quechua/
accessed April 7, 2015

Marriage

     For the Quechua peoples of Peru, family is extensive and one of the most important things in their lives and when it comes to making a decision for any person in the family, the extensive family opinion plays a mayor role. Family is so important that marriage is centered among the families of the bride and groom and their community or tribe, not the bride and grooms decision on being together. Many unmarried children/adults of the group will meet at one of the very many traditional festivals and then begin to tease and expose themselves to one another during these occasions. Once a young couple has begin to "like" each other, they commence to deliberate whether or not they are ready to consider marriage and if so, then a series of extensive rituals and steps are taken before they are named "husband" and "wife".
     In order for the marriage to take place, consent of the family must be given and acceptance by the community must also be granted. The family of the bride will receive a visit from the grooms family, being his parents and godparents, which means that they will all sit and deliberate the wedding and haggle on which family will donate what to the newlyweds. During the visitation process, the groom is restricted to stay at home and not be a part of the conversation amongst the two families. Age is not a barrier amongst the Quechua people, but the moment a man and a woman get married, they are then considered to be full adults.
     The engagement of the man and woman is decided and announced at a later date, a couple of days after the deliberation between the families takes place and while they decide how donations will be split and on if the two are eligible to marry each other and AFTER the bride and groom have officially exchanged rosaries, or as we would say their vows. At the wedding, a public procession is held as the bride leaves her home to adhere herself to her husbands community (ayllu). When the bride and groom are officially wed and bound for life, they move on to living with the grooms parents. The only way this wont go about is if the brides family is short on laborers, of so then they will live with the brides family. Apart from the public community festivities and rituals, many others also come along with getting married in the Quechua community. These "post marriage" rituals include fertility rites as well. 
References Cited:
SIM
Serving the Church Across Cultures: 2015 Quechua
http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/quechua, Accessed March 24, 2015

Countries and Their Cultures 

Quechua

http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Norway-to-Russia/Quechua.html, Accessed March 24, 2015

The Cultural, Biological, and Ceremonial Importance of the Potato

For the Quechua peoples in the Andean communities of Amaru and Paru Paru, Peru, the potato is the one of the most important crops to their way of life. It is a staple to their diet and an important aspect of their ceremonial and cultural heritage. Within Peru, over 2,800 varieties of potato exist that originated in the country. The Quechua use the different types of this crop as a food source, a treatment of illness, and for various cultural practices. One such practice is a ceremony surrounding the harvesting and planting of the potato. Throughout this ceremony, called quintu, the Quechua show respect to Pachamama, or Mother Earth, by placing llama fat and sets of coca leaves into the first hole in which potatoes are to be planted.

Peru's Potato Park, located in Pisaq, Cusco, is an indigenous territory with six Quechua communities who are dedicated to protecting their land, potato varieties, and culture. They help ensure that the different varieties will not be lost over time and plant around 1,400 varieties of potato within the park. The communities also prevent the loss of the many potato varieties by combating the threats to the conservation of these native types. These threats include the illegal commercialization of biological materials, or biopiracy, climate change, and genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. By fighting these problems, the Potato Park hopes to guarantee the safety and preservation of the native potato varieties and make sure they will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Reference Cited:
Stephenson, Amanda
2012 The Quechua: Guardians of the Potato. http://www.culturalsurvival.org, accessed February 26, 2015.