As you may know, every year between March 19th to the 21st the Equinox passes, the distance and inclination between the Sun and the Earth returns the day to its time equivalent to the night. Both the Equinoxes and the Solstices marked the agricultural, religious and astrological calendar of the original peoples of the Andes and represented an important tool for understanding their cosmovisión.

In the Southern hemisphere, unlike the North, we are receiving autumn and saying goodbye to summer. On these days, the people who still preserve our customs celebrate the harvests. Crops such as Potatoes, Quinoa, Kiwicha, Maca, CornandCacao are abundant in these fertile valleys of the Incas. We call this harvest festival Pacha Pucuy Quilla which translated means Moon of the growing Flower. At this time the fields begin to bear fruit and the animals begin to thicken.

It should be borne in mind that the Inca calendar is governed by the maize harvest cycles, although it is already in bloom, it is not yet time to harvest it and you must wait until April to do so. Another curiosity about this season in addition to the sacrifices that were made at that time, was that men had to enter a “Diet” to receive the month of April.

* diet: no alcohol, no meat, no sex

At Andean Natural we think that despite the difficult times we are living in, we should be grateful for the goodness of Mother Earth that provides us with these Super Foods to protect us from sickening and create stronger defenses in our body. Therefore, we must take advantage of these crops and optimize our food reserves.

We call this harvest festival Pacha Pucuy Quilla which translated means Moon of the growing Flower and the ritual of raising life as thanks to the Pachamama.

Pawkar Raymi comes from Quechua and means “festival of flowering” or “many colors.” It is an ancestral celebration of the native peoples of the Andes.
This celebration is related to sowing and harvest times, and there are four festivities that are repeated year after year, totally related to food and fertility: Pawkar Raymi, Inti Raymi, Kulla Raymi and Kapak Raymi.

In that specific festival of the year, Pachamama (Mother Earth) 🌎 is thanked for the harvests. Colorful costumes are part of the tradition: the colors represent the abundance of the land.