Accompaniament by Chewing - a Quechua Vuelario

A Vuelario is part of the funeral ritual here in Peru. It would be most like a visitation or a wake in the United States. Monday evening I, along with Karina, and Felimon (two of my coworkers at Paz y Esperanza in Ayacucho) attended the vuelario of Victoria, the grandmother of Raul, the driver and my compañero at Paz y Esperanza. The office divided itself up and some went to the house on Sunday to be with Raul and his family, others are going on Tuesday to the internment.
Felimon, Karina, and I brought a spray of flowers on behalf of the Office. So as we were in the taxi heading up into the hills of Ayacucho, I had to admit to being a little nervous. I am unfamiliar with funeral traditions in Peru, let alone a predominantly Quechua and Catholic family, so Felimon, and Karina (chuckling at me) helped me prepare. I am always intrigued by this distinct Andean cutlure. I look forward to being exposed to more of its nuances and traditions each day. There is never anytime like the present to learn, am I right?
We arrived at the house of Raul´s aunt. A vuelario takes place in the living room of the house. There is no furniture. It has all been removed and replaced with chairs and benches. Then at the other end of the room is the coffin. It had 4 pillar lights around it, an angelic Jesus ceramic statue hanging above the coffin and Victoria´s signature gorra or hat that all the indigenous women wear was ontop of the coffin. When we walked in we gave the flowers to one of the young men and he placed it with the others around the coffin. Karina and Felimon told me that we will present the flowers, and then greet the family. I said ¨How will I know who they are, I only know Raul?¨ They told me that the family will be wearing all black. OK got it. We walked in and yup, there they were. The family was lining the walls around the coffin, in all black. The interesting thing was that all of Victoria´s daughters (Raul´s mom) were in a corner kind of piled up on rugs and blankets. The rest of the family was on benches or in chairs. After greeting the family individually we lit candles and placed them in the rack. Felimon gave corporate saludos or greetings on behalf of the organization and said that we would like to offer prayer. EVERYONE in the room stood up at once and men removed hats, and bowed their heads, some making the sign of the cross. Felimon and Karina had asked me if I would pray. I relunctanlty agreed, and was rather uncomfortable, but prayed nonetheless. Felimon followed my prayer up with a few Catholic rituals including the sinners prayer, a few hail Mary´s, and the Lord´s Prayer. I am glad he was there to do that becasue I did not know until we arrived that the family and Victoria were Catholic. SURPRISE!!! Not in bad way...
One of the things that I have noticed is that in Catholic Indigenous Quechua families their faith and indigenous roots are layered. This is different than in other cultures I have been in, like evangelical or protestant indigenous families where Christianity has usurped the place of all things indigenous. I think, and have heard that this is a part of what makes the Quechua culture unique say apart from some of the other nations colonized on behalf on the crown, which was followed by the cross. Here in Raul´s family, as well as in Cahtedrals around the country I have seen this layering effect. The indigenous Quechua features, rituals, practices, traditions, and beliefs do not disappear, but are layered and intermingled, as well as sometimes standing alone amongst Catholicism (the religion of the Spanish crown).
On Monday night two things stood out for me, to help illustrate this idea of layering for me. After we had prayed we ¨accompanied¨or sat with the family and others who had come to visit. When we sat down a woman came along with a big plastic bag of coca leaves and gave me a big handful. As I looked around the room I noticed a bulge in everyone´s cheek, and watching Karina and Felimon I remembered that you were to chew them. I had only had them brewed as a tea so far. The ancient Incas used coca leaves to fortify themselves. They chewed them for strength and endurance so they could work long hours. The QUechua people do the same today. You can buy the leaves in the market. Coca leaves are grown in the Andes Mountains and are used to combat altitude sickness. They also help regulate your blood pressure and blood sugar. Unfortunately, today the leaves are also ground up and mixed with other chemicals to make a paste that is used to produce cocaine. That makes Peru the 2nd largest producer of the raw materials (the coca leaves) used to create the drug further north.
As we sat and talked with some of the others gathered, Raul began walking around and offering people a little shot of a clear liquid out of a pisco bottle. It was served in a communal shot glass. So when in Peru...do as the Peruvians do! At first I thought it was pisco, but it was not as strong on first taste, and was sweeter. It was Caña Andino or guardiente which is like moonshine. Soon after another young man took Rual´s place and continued serving the liquid, and Raul sat with us. As I sat there chewing on my cheekful of coca leaves, and intermittently sipping shot glasses of Caña I wondered what it was for. Was this hospitality, was it custom, had the family not had time to go to the grocery store, and this was all that was on hand?
Tuesday morning one of my colleagues at Paz y Esperanza, Milagros, told me that the Quechua families serve the caña and coca leaves to the rest of the familyand the guests at a vuelario because they believe that the soul of the deceased person is present at the vuelario and grabs onto people who enter and can affect them. The caña and coca leaves are to fortify and protect them as they sit and accompany the family. So Monday we sat and talked, as well as drank and chewed to accompany our collegaue Raul and his family as they continued to walk a road of grief.