Events from the world

Inti Raymi

Inti Raymi or Fiesta del sol is one of the great festivals that take place in Cusco, Peru. This festival is
a celebration of the Inca peoples of the country. It takes place every year at the end of June.
During this date, thousands of national and foreign tourists walk the streets of the historic center
of Cusco and congregate on the flat lands of its main enclosures to live a special day of cultural
activities whose purpose is to revalue the Inca legacy.

The Inti Raymi was established by the Inca Pachacútec in the 1430s AD. C., and it was celebrated
every year during the winter solstice of the southern hemisphere (the day when the Sun was
farthest from the Earth). It was the most important ancestral festival of the Tahuantinsuyo to
which residents of the four Suyos used to go. The celebration was last attended by the Inca in
1535. Today, the tradition is maintained as a theatrical performance loaded with mysticism and
spirituality. The celebration route begins in the Coricancha, the ancient religious center of the Inca
capital, where with dances and songs an offering is made to the Inti or Sun god.