Inti Raymi is a celebration observed at the time of the June solstice. For indigenous people throughout the Americas the solstices and equinoxes were observed and celebrated as important moments of the year in which the Earth and Sun were in special alignments with each other. Such alignments in time were important due to the relationship of Earth with the angle of the Sun and its influence on all life on Earth. Science collects and analyzes data about the Sun, but how many people recognize or think of the Sun as a living entity providing a constant flow of life sustaining energy to our planet?
In addition to honoring the Sun and the Earth, the solstice is a time of transformation, it marks change from one cycle into another. The Earth is affected as are all living beings. We can choose to make use of the very powerful energy of the sun for personal development through consciously opening ourselves to prayer and meditation in whatever form we prefer. Along with giving thanks for the bounty we receive, the solstice is also a time for purification rituals or renewal of our spirits. At Cochasqui, some of our group joined with others to celebrate and to take time to take part in the purification and prayers. Some prayers were for right thinking, right feeling, and right action.
It seemed to many of us a great privilege to live among people who still keep these very old traditions which honor the luminaries, the planet, and the human spirit as well.
Indeed you are blessed to live among such spiritual people and to be allowed into their sacred rites.