Roof thatching ritual

Misfortune ritual

Roof thatching is an important Andean institution, and includes a ceremony. Although there is much regional variation, the ritual as found among the Kallawayas (near Charazani, Bolivia), consists of a ritual to dispel the misfortunes of the surroundings. Another is to feed the earth shrine of the ayllu (the communal land), the laying of the roof, and a festive banquet.

The first part is a symbolic sweeping of the house to dispel misfortunes, such as triatomine insects. A yachaj, a diviner, arrives on a Friday night, throws coca leaves to discern what misfortunes are found in the house, and then goes throughout the house symbolically sweeping with ritual symbols and breaking string. As an adaptive strategy, the community health worker could participate in the coca seance to volunteer information about vinchucas and how this misfortune carries another tiny misfortune, T. cruzi. This injures the chuyma (the heart and other central organs) and can cause muerto subito (sudden death) and empacho (constipation). The worker would instruct the inhabitants that this remedy requires continual vigilance, housing hygiene, and the use of insecticides. After the shaman has ritually swept the household, the health worker could spray the house. When the participants take the kintos, bundles of sacred items that attract misfortunes, to the river, they could also take clothes in efforts to dispel the evil. This ritual behavior could be used in this context to explain the importance of keeping the house clean.

The second part of the ritual consists of misa sumaj suertepah wasi ("Good Luck Table for the House"), where a yachaj and the family prepare symbolic products corresponding to the head, trunk, and legs of the three major ecological levels of the ayllu: llama fat and fetus for the head, highlands, and herder; guinea-pig blood for the heart, central levels, and potato and oca fields; and coca leaves and chicha (corn beer) for the legs, lowlands, and cereal farmers.