The traditional Aymara village or marka gathers a large number of revered orientation points which together make up a "mythology map". These "strong places"
have high symbolic significance and give guidance to both the traditional veneration cult and to the economic and social activity of people. The marka, as the Aymara spatial centre, has a vital unity with its surroundings, in the country lands and beyond, with its wild periphery, called sallqa. The country land and the sallqa ideally form two concentric rings around the village within the symbolic configuration of the Aymara culture. The map of the town starts from an aka (this from us): the village, its temple, its protective hill, its Pachamama, which at this same place gave life to all the ayllu. At the same time it is "directional" because it faces east, where the sun rises, from where the fertilising rain comes as do other vital elements, such as coca, many medicinal plants, articles of worship and traditional musical instruments40.
The circles found in ritual processions and turns obey a special direction, contrary to the clockwise direction and following the sun’s movement in the southern hemisphere. The opposite direction is used in death rituals. This expresses rejection, defence against the danger of a returning bad spell. The ritual gestures that are made with the right hand or with the left one have the same meanings. The expressions of directional orientation most commonly used are: upward or forward (east) and down or back (west). The former have connotations of life, fertility, moisture from rain or moisture from above, while the latter allude to death, sterility, dryness (desert) and humidity or moisture related to the sea below. Within this worldview the two regions are of opposed and dual meaning, keep a balanced and fertile tension focused on the aka
40 Van Kessel J. (1996) op. cit., p. 51
of the Aymara habitat. This is the root of the Aymara worldview, the view of space within their ecological resources and the technical principles behind their agricultural techniques defined by " knowing how to raise life"41.
Ayllu as a concept means "both", the human community and their land. Thus, in the perception of the Aymara people, the village, and also at the same time the house in the ranch (uta) are not complete in themselves but are one with the territory or the countryside and with the surrounding landscape. The most important symbolic places in the traditional Aymara village are the square and the temple. The town square, which has a central position in the ideal colonial concept, is set to one side of the residential housing group and mediates between the village and the temple. This is like the cemetery, outside the town to the west, where the dead ones go according to mythology and are celebrated in rituals still in use. The temple door opens to the east to receive the morning sunlight. It is at the door of the temple where at dawn on the eve of the festivities wilancha takes place for the Lord, who is present in the sun that appears every morning42. The temple, like the house, is considered a living being, or rather a living couple. They speak of "the church t'allas" (Mrs Church) and "the tower mallku" (Mr Tower). The temple and its external tower are surrounded by a wall forming a ritual inside space that receives a lot of respect, which in colonial times was reserved as a cemetery for important people. Opposite the door of the temple, the wall has an arched doorway that connects the grounds of "religion" into the square. All acts performed outside the religious precinct, outside this wall, are considered "customs"
which have for Aymara people the quality of indigenous worship.
The square is also considered sacred. Ritually it is called "cabildo" and has embodied in it all the guardian spirits of the village, called the Achachilas. These are
41 Van Kessel J. and Condori, D. op. cit., p. 18
42 Van Kessel, J. (1977) La fiesta patronal o fiesta del pueblo en la comunidad aymara. Teología y Vida.
XVIII (2-3):145-160.
revered like the Mrs Church and Mr Tower. The square has altars in every corner, but these are not represented by any structure. It is at these points where the saints that go out in procession to bless the village halt in recognition, representing the fact that the village is divided into four neighbourhoods and the fields beyond (of the four ayllus) with their animals and crops. Two of these altars belong to arajsaya and two to manqhasaya.
From the temple start several ritual roads leading to the cemetery and to the
“calvarios”. These are altars, usually four, located in the nearby hills. The Achachilas of the protector hills are beings who can be identified with the patron saints celebrated by the community. Generally these are two male saints and two virgins or female saints.
The calvarios altars are generally surrounded by a rectangular wall and look to the east with unique access to that side, enclosing a space for communal worship and ritual conviviality, symbol of the religious syncretism. In front is the place where the wilancha is performed for the saint. From the temple a ritual path starts leading westward to the cemetery that also has a surrounding wall and a single point of access43 (Fig. 3.10).
The housing complex of the Aymara marka is also divided into two halves and four quarters or sectors that represent the two sayas and four major ayllus. During holiday periods of intense social activity, each family participating in the festival inhabits the house located in the sector of their ayllu of origin. This dwelling in the marka is used only in the festive period of the ritual village, which is in summer, between November 24th and February 5th.
The spirits of the hills, called Achachilsa or Mallkus according to tradition, can communicate. That is how the hills where the calvarios are located are in contact with
43 Van Kessel, J. 1981 Danzas y estructuras sociales en los Andes. Instituto de Pastoral Andina, Cusco. p.
54
each other, with all the tall mountains of the region, and those with the most prestigious peaks like the Tata Jachura located to the east of Chiapa (northern highlands) and the Tata Sabaya located to the east of Isluga (southern highlands) in Bolivia. The Achachilas are male and female at the same time, and are very powerful, demanding human respect, and in due time offerings. There is a large mythology that ties them together, presenting each with a character and a biography44. Together the spirits form a council, which meets on the day of St. Andrew (November 30th), the occasion when they decide whose turn it is to be responsible for managing the climate with its winds, frosts and hailstorms, rain and snow45.