Page 278 - Perú indígena y virreinal

expression of this sense of competition is found in the dance of scissors; whose essential component is the confrontation, or “atipanakuy” between two dancers, each with its own musical group. The level of skill that must be shown to disconcert the rival is such that the dance has been organised into a succession of stages where, which beyond attempting to subdue the opposition by means of elaborate steps, attains a level of fakirism and acrobatics, worthy of the best circuses.
The repertory of dances that assumes a competitive spirit is vast. In some the duel is among individuals, as in the aforementioned case, and others involve entire groups. In the latter, like the ritual battles or the “tinkuys” common in various southern provinces of Peru, daring and resistance play a predominant role.
When the rivals are individuals, in addition to possessing technical abilities, inventive capabilities are especially important. Each dancer must respond to his antagonist with spontaneous and innovative moves. The value granted to this skill is such that it is interwoven with an array of magical-religious beliefs and institutions whose goal is to promote it. The roles of the “devil” and the “sirens,” along with other supernatural beings who are seen to endow these capabilities, form part of this first consideration. Whereas, within the realm of their promotion, we can highlight an array of contexts that include ballad competitions, such as those that take place in Cajamarca during the carnivals, as well as the improvisation of “hayllis”, verses that peasants sing while sowing the corn plots in Andamarca (Lucanas-Ayacucho). Also related are the songs that the mayors of the community of Q’eros must provide, annually, for the festival of “chayampuy” as part of their official duties (Nuñez del Prado, 1964).
This obligation of Q’eros’ mayors demonstrates that, beyond speediness in the performance of their work, a further requirement to be able to assume authority is to be capable of being more creative than others. In relation to the latter, in this same community we may consider the example of the Quollana, a responsibility of newlyweds according to which, when performing communal labour, (like ploughing with chaquitacllas) it is stressed that they must work with sufficient speed as to avoid being overtaken by the other participants.
These features of this community of the Cusco area are no more than a sample of the competitive foundations in the civic-religious hierarchy of Andean society. At times it is these abilities that are emphasised the most, yet also highlighted frequently is the capacity to accumulate social relations, based either in kinship or friendship, and the accumulation of goods and their redistribution on the basis of generosity. Therefore, the highest social positions, those that are associated to the social whole as a totality (like that of the custodian of the Patron Saint of the community, or that of the Mayor Vara), are performed by mature individuals who have reached the height of their accumulative capacity in these fields.
Considering the aforementioned examples, it is clear that the Andean competitiveness is inseparable from a sense of reciprocity meant to exalt diversity, and individual or collective creativity. Its vocation is the reaffirmation of social solidarity. So much so, that it could be said than in Andean competitions there are no winners or losers because the ultimate goal is the recreation of the social order. This explains why those who accumulate goods only for profit are criticised with such venom. It is said of the “blancos” or “mistis”, that to have this inclination one’s heart must be like the pit of a peach, possessor of a hard seed, while that of the Indians is like the one belonging to the apple, that encompasses four sides. (León Caparó, 1994).
As we can observe, the scope of the myth of Sarhua in relation to its ideal of diversity in connection with competition are numerous; however this ideal goes far beyond this scope. If we transfer our attention to the possession of land we find that the Andean peasants prefer the dispersion of plots of land to its concentration. Aside from the influence that the system of inheritance, and the fact of being able to enjoy products that grow at different ecological levels, the peasants hold to this folk wisdom: “If in the plateau it is lost, in the ravine it escapes”. According to Fonseca this means that, “if some plots of land are affected by atmospheric phenomena, in others there is some hope that production will be good. In such a way, the losses may be compensated”. (Fonseca, 1966, 29 ).
A logic of this sort, is what stimulated the emergence of the “mitimaes” or settlers of the pre-Hispanic era and what explains to a large extent, the contemporary existence of the vast number of migrants who maintain links with their villages of origin and their traditional customs in their new settlements.
For many of them, Lima or the other areas where they have migrated, constitute additional ecological levels to those they had in their native territories, allowing them to continue diversifying economically as well as improving the education of their children. Obviously, venturing beyond a social network where reciprocity and interpersonal relations provided a sense of security and confidence is a daring act. Nevertheless, when attempting this, they have not been deprived of the resources their cultures have to offer. One of these resources has been the mobilisation in collective groups united by bonds of kinship that furthermore have ended up in areas conquered by members of their collectivity. Another case is the preservation of links with their places of origin, both to maintain a supply of foodstuffs, and workforces. Equally, there is the recreation of their own festivities in the newly conquered space for the sake of perpetuating the cultural identity and solidarity among members of the same collective group.
The Andean man, the prototype of our popular sectors, has never been unyielding when confronted with unfamiliarity or adversity. Thanks to his ideal of diversity he has never lost the chance to take advantage, within his possibilities, of European introduced innovations. It is also true that he resisted when Messianism played an important role. But the desire to incorporate new agricultural products, new technologies, and other resources to improve his quality of life overcame any suspicion that could have developed toward all foreign things. There is no other explanation for why pulses like broad beans, or cereals like wheat or barley are so entrenched in the dietary tradition, or why agricultural instruments like the animal drawn plough, the pick and the shovel, construction materials for homes such as tiles, and, within the sphere of artistic expression, the new techniques and aesthetic conceptions introduced by the Europeans have been so skilfully assimilated. Such has been the receptivity to new technologies that they were not content with accepting them passively, but instead they enriched them with very precarious materials. This is the case of the famous Quintín Cumpa, of the community of Cuyo-Cuyo, who with only wood and hydraulic energy, invented a machine that executed eight different functions; among them a power saw and a functioning organ that played melodies.
To a certain extent this is applicable to the innumerable Andean craftsmen who conserve their ancient aesthetic patterns dominated by dualist designs, derived from pre- Hispanic times, through the manipulated usage of European expressive forms. Thus the figurative tradition that can be seen in Ayacuchano altarpieces or in the panels of Sarhua are without a doubt of Western lineage but the distribution of the motifs is clearly Andean. The figure of the sun dominates the superior portion of the panels and a virgin positioned in a lower portion communicates the high/low opposition that is so prevalent in Andean dualism. Something similar occurs in classical altarpieces that accompany the branding of cattle. In this case, again we see two superimposed levels presided over by a condor. The evangelists, representatives of the celestial or sacred sphere, are located on the upper level, and on the lower level is depicted a more mundane action, such as cattle branding. Such is the importance conceded to these dualist systems that it has been suggested by Verónica Cereceda, who making use of notions such as huayruro, which means “beauty”, and the composition of the motifs in southern textiles, argues that the aesthetic Andean values seem to be defined according to these criteria (Cereceda, 1987).
Although they assimilated foreign influences, they also knew how to convince the Europeans of the benefits of many of their own products: contributions that enriched the world-wide diet with the expansion of the potato, and medicines derived from many plants, among them, quinine. It is thanks to this competency for conviction that they soon learned how to make use of the market economy to better their revenues, occasionally to the point of possessing fleets of boats and numerous herds of animals with which they practised muleteering.
A deeply seated myth in the Marxist school of thought is that the European introduced market economy, linked with a marked degree of individualism, clashed with a supposed Andean socialism and irreversibly disrupted the old Andean social order.
Without a doubt the confrontation of two, distinct socio-cultural systems where one imposed itself as a dominator at the expenses of another that became the dominated party, had catastrophic effects—such as the excessive reduction of the population. But it is one thing to acknowledge an imbalance and another to deny the possibility of some
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