Papa Wata Ceremony, Potato Park, Pisac, Peru
Papa wata ceremony, performed after potatoes are brought in from the field, to call the spirit of the potato because the spirt of the potato sometimes stays in the field. Mariano Sutta Apucusi and his wife Antonia are seen holding the potatoes over incense. Part of the ceremony is the kintu ceremony, where three coca leaves are held up to call the spirits of the mountains, or apus.
When he is holding up the coca leaves it is the Kintu ceremony, part of many ceremonies, an offering to Mother Earth and to thank the apus, the sacred mountains.
The Parque de la Papa, or potato park, near Pisac, Peru is using potatoes as a focal point to aid biodiversity and local economics, as well as bringing the community together through traditional values.
