Churros, Chica Morada candy and alpacas were all a part of the Incan celebration called Pachamama, which occurred last Wednesday in front of Hollenbeck.
The Incan celebration, which is from Peru, means “mother of earth.” The celebration is used to celebrate life, how Mother Earth nourishes humankind and the existence of humans on earth. Sigma Delta Pi, which is the Hispanic national honor society, hosted the event in the hollow.
The alpacas joined in on the celebration and ceremony. About 30 people showed up to the event. All of the students and faculty that participated were in a circle, as the Sigma Delta Pi members recited lines like:
“Pachamama gives us life, she nourishes us throughout our existence on this earth and when we die, we go back to our Pachamama, from where we will rise again. What is our life? It is all that we have in this universe: our plants, our trees, our water, our birds, animals, the sun, the moon and the stars.”
After reciting, the students and faculty put sticks and rocks in the middle of the circle and wished for many blessings and thanked Mother Earth.
Shortly after, they drank the Chica Morada drink and enjoyed some of the churros and other snacks.
President of Sigma Delta Pi, Callan Swaim, ’16, was very pleased with the event’s turnout.
“We put a lot of time and effort into organizing the event, and we were very pleasantly surprised with the turnout. We were really excited to show the ancient Incan culture with the Wittenberg community,” she said.
One member from the honor society, Blaine Davidson, ’18, shared her experience of the event as being very different because she was a part of the event.
Chenise Gibson, ‘17, who is also a member of the honor society, said: “It’s important for people to know how important Mother Earth is, and how big of a role she plays in everything.”
Olivia Amaya, who is a visiting Spanish professor, expressed her opinion on how the community enjoyed the event: “It was wonderful to see the alpacas being a part of this culture, and it seems like everyone enjoyed learning about the Incan culture.”
One student, Karen Kombe, ’18, was very happy to attend the event: “I’m happy that I came, because this was the first time experiencing the Pachamama culture,” she said. “I never experienced this before, and seeing how they give back to the earth and Mother Nature.”
Davidson is looking forward to events like Pachamama to continue in the future to celebrate with campus.
“I will be vice president of Sigma Delta Pi next year, and I am excited to put on events for all of campus to celebrate different cultures,” she said.
