The changes of season in the time of the Incas had a great significance that in many cases were celebrated with great ceremonies in appreciation of what they received from nature
On March 20, the season changes from summer to autumn in the southern hemisphere, so in various places such as Salta, Argentina and Cusco, Peru, the ancestral ceremony of the autumn equinox is celebrated, a festival that in the Quechua language is known as Hawkay pacha or hawkay mit'a or hawkay mita.
In many places around the world, the change of season is celebrated
The chroniclers tell us that the Incas observed the annual path of the sun, on the eastern and western horizons and celebrated the solstices and equinoxes (Garcilaso [1609] 1967, pages: 188-191).
Chirimita was the cold weather (when nights are longer) and ruphaymita the hot weather (when days are longer). Rodolfo Sánchez Garrafa, in his doctoral thesis "Apus de los cuatro suyos: Construcción del mundo en los ciclos mitológicos de las deidades montaña" indicates that "the annual cycle had two great moments: the summer solstice and the winter solstice whose markers were poqoy sukanka and chiraw sukanka respectively, stone monuments or pillars that marked the sunset, indicating in one case the beginning of the period of regular rain or poqoy mita and, in the other, the period of rest of the earth or chirawmita ".
The summer and winter solstices are the two great moments of seasonal change in Quechua culture
When referring to the seasons of the year, in Quechua, we also find other designations that we quote for the knowledge of our readers:
Spring: Tarpuy pacha or Tarpuymit'a (September - December)
Summer: Ruphay Pacha or Poqoymit'a (December - March)
Autumn: Hawkay Pacha or Parqoymit'a (March - June)
Winter: Chirawa or Ch'akimit'a or Qasamit'a (frost season) (June-September)
According to the Major Academy of the Quechua Language, mit'a means weather season. It should be noted that mita -without the apostrophe-, has the same meaning in Ecuador and other places in our Andean region.
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