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Bolivia: The Tinku Ritual

Image from The People of Pachamama-Copyright 2002 Tewfic El-Sawy
The New York Times and its sister company, the International Herald Tribune report today from Bolivia on the unusual ritual of Tinku, a word that means “encounter” in both the Aymara and Quechua languages, which was once widespread throughout the Andean world, predating the arrival of the conquistadors. Anthropologists say it now tenuously exists just in an isolated pocket of Bolivia, seven hours southeast of La Paz by bus on a dirt road.

The ritual involves dance, drinking chicha, a fermented beverage made here from rye, and then fighting breaks out until blood stains the dirt alleyways. It's a combination of harvest or fertility ritual and a chance for young men to show off in front of women from other communities.

I recall a festival on the Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca when I visited Bolivia in 2002. The locals were celebrating a harvest festival, and although there was no violence, I thought that chicha did flow rather too freely.

The slideshow is of photographs by Evan Abramson of the NY Times: The Tinku Ritual