Quyllurit’i Pilgrims and the Journey to the Sacred Glacier

High in the Andean mountains, far above the tree line where oxygen thins and stars feel near enough to touch, a ritual unlike any other unfolds each year. The Quyllurit'i festival, one of Peru's most revered indigenous celebrations, draws thousands of pilgrims to the Sinakara Valley near the mountain Ausangate. Held in late May or early June, this event coincides with the full moon and marks both the Catholic celebration of the Lord of Quyllurit'i and ancient Andean cosmology tied to the stars and seasonal cycles.

The name Quyllurit'i, derived from Quechua, translates as "Snow Star" or "Shining Snow." For centuries, the festival has served as a powerful syncretic symbol, where pre-Columbian reverence for mountain deities (Apus) converges with the Christian worship introduced during Spanish colonisation. While it officially honours an apparition of Christ on a rock witnessed by a shepherd boy, its deeper resonance lies in its celebration of nature's sacredness and the complex harmony between the old and the new belief systems.

Over 10,000 pilgrims from various Andean communities participate, each group dressed in traditional attire representing their specific regional identities. At the heart of the festival is the ceremonial dance performed by ukukus— half-man, half-bear figures drawn from Andean myth. These masked dancers embody a liminal presence, bridging worlds of the spiritual and earthly, light and darkness. Their role is multifaceted: guardians of the pilgrimage, jesters, and mediators between communities and the sacred mountain spirits.

The journey itself is arduous. Pilgrims ascend to altitudes over 4,500 metres, some carrying crosses, others playing panpipes or singing ancient hymns. The hardship is embraced, a physical expression of devotion and connection to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the celestial realm. Once in the valley, rituals are performed beside a glacier long considered sacred, though it has receded significantly in recent decades. Pilgrims once chipped pieces of sacred ice to bring home, believing in its healing power. Today, environmental concerns have curtailed that practice, yet the symbolic gesture remains alive in collective memory.

The glacier, once viewed as a divine presence, embodies the fragility of tradition in a warming world. Climate change has visibly altered the landscape, prompting shifts in the rituals themselves. Where once the ukukus climbed at night to retrieve pieces of the glacier, they now perform symbolic gestures at its base, a poignant acknowledgment of loss and adaptation.

While the Catholic Church formally recognises the festival, it is the indigenous traditions that dominate the proceedings. Each dance, each song, each ritual echoes centuries of resistance, adaptation, and resilience. The fusion of Catholic liturgy with Andean cosmology creates a living mosaic of identity, where the past is neither erased nor merely remembered but constantly renegotiated in the present.

UNESCO’s 2011 designation of Quyllurit’i as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity brought global attention to this singular event. However, it also raised questions about preservation and modernity. Increased tourism risks altering the spiritual atmosphere, turning pilgrimage into performance. Local communities walk a careful line, striving to protect the sanctity of their customs while sharing their heritage with a wider world.

What makes Quyllurit’i remarkable is not simply its spectacle, though the visual richness is undeniable. It is the emotional depth and spiritual endurance it represents. Here, identity is not static; it is danced, sung, climbed, and felt. The endurance of the human spirit is mirrored in the persistence of these high-altitude rituals, passed down through generations who have carried the weight of mountains both literal and symbolic.

As dawn breaks after days of prayer, music, and ritual, the pilgrims begin their descent. Exhaustion clings to their limbs, but so does something ineffable, a reaffirmed sense of who they are, where they come from, and what they continue to protect. Quyllurit’i is more than a festival. It is a reaffirmation of cultural sovereignty, a luminous point of convergence between belief, ecology, memory, and movement.