The Falcon Snow Mountain: Apu Wamanrasu in Huancavelica

Apu Wamanrasu is a mountain god of Quechua tradition.

Lord over herds, weather and the dead of Huancavelica.

GodQuechua

Apu Wamanrasu

Apu Wamanrasu is a mountain about 5300 metres high in the Chunta range in the border area of Huancavelica, and the mightiest Apu or Wamani of the region. The herding communities venerate him as lord over their herds, the weather and the dead of the community.

His name means Falcon Snow Mountain, and the falcon is more than a namesake in the central Peruvian area: waman or wamani there denotes the mountain deity itself. Ethnographically, the cult is documented above average.

At a glance: Apu Wamanrasu

Type: Wamani, lord over livestock, weather and the dead
Origin: Chunta range, Huancavelica, central Peru
Texts: ethnographically well documented, monographs by Arroyo Aguilar
Period: living cult in the present
Appearance: Wamani conceived as anthropomorphic, with falcon association

Region of origin and sources

Period of the Texts

The cult is alive in the present and is among the mountain cults of central Peru best described ethnographically.

Area of Diffusion

The Chunta range in the border area of Huancavelica in central Peru; the bearers of the cult are the herders of the highlands.

Sources

Good: above all Sabino Arroyo Aguilar has explored the mountain in monographs, including the burials in rock niches beneath the summit.

Name and variants

Quechua: waman, falcon or peregrine falcon, and rasu, snow or snow peak; Wamanrasu means falcon snow mountain. The falcon, waman or wamani, is at the same time the name of the mountain deity itself in the central Peruvian region.

Appearance and behaviour

Appearance

Wamanrasu is envisaged as an anthropomorphic Wamani with falcon associations; the mountain itself is a snow peak of the Chunta range.

Effect

As a Wamani, Wamanrasu protects the herds of alpaca and llama and the pastures, mediates with the ancestors and the dead, and is a weather power of the highlands.

Profile: Apu Wamanrasu

The lord of the herds and of the dead, presented concisely.

Tradition

The most powerful Wamani of its region, rooted in the central Andean Wamani cult of Ayacucho and Huancavelica.

Domain

The highland herders with their alpaca and llama herds, their pastures, the weather, and the dead of the community.

Depiction

An anthropomorphic Wamani with falcon associations; the mountain measures, depending on the source, approximately 5298 to 5304 metres.

Sphere of Influence

Herd protection, weather power, and mediation with the dead: the Wamani keeps the connection between the living and the ancestors open.

Cult

Pago and despacho offerings made by the herders; burials and a cult of the dead are documented at rock shelters on the mountain.

The Apu concept of the south, as embodied for instance by Apu Salkantay; in the Aymara region, the Achachila serves as the ancestral mountain.

The falcon, the snow, and the dead

Quechua waman means falcon or peregrine falcon, rasu means snow or snow peak; Wamanrasu means falcon snow mountain. The falcon is more than an image here: in the central Peruvian region, wamani is the term for the mountain deity itself, so that the name of the mountain and the name of the god are interlinked.

Wamanrasu is unusually well documented ethnographically, above all through Sabino Arroyo Aguilar, who described burials in rock niches beneath the summit as well as the herding and death cult. This allows an unusually precise account of how a living mountain cult combines herding economy, weather interpretation, and remembrance of the dead.

A case study in Peruvian anthropology

In Peruvian anthropology, Wamanrasu serves as a case study of the cultural identity of the ancient Andean herders; internationally, the mountain is little known.

From a religious-studies perspective, Apu Wamanrasu is a regional but soundly monographically documented living cult. Important clarifications: the height varies between about 5298 and 5304 metres; the spelling variants Huamanrazo, Huamanrasu, and Wamanrasu refer to the same mountain; and here Wamani is not merely a synonym for Apu, but the central Peruvian term for the mountain deity.

Herd offerings and the death cult at the Wamani

Concretely attested are pago and despacho offerings made by the highland herders, in which coca leaves, llama fat, and chicha are given to the Wamani. In addition, there is a documented connection between burials and a death cult at rock shelters on the mountain, described by Arroyo Aguilar: the mountain that protects the herds also receives the dead of the community.

The Wamani cult and the Apu concept compared

Apu Wamanrasu belongs to the central Andean Wamani cult of Ayacucho and Huancavelica and is related to the Apu concept of the south, as represented by mountains such as Apu Salkantay. In the Aymara region, the Wamani corresponds to the Achachila; the cult is also linked to the earth mother Pachamama.

Frequently asked questions about Wamanrasu

What does Wamanrasu mean?

Falcon snow mountain, from waman, falcon, and rasu, snow; waman is at the same time the name of the mountain deity.

What is a Wamani?

The central Peruvian term for the mountain deity, here more than merely a synonym for Apu.

What connects him with the dead?

Burials and a death cult are documented at rock shelters on the mountain; the Wamani mediates with the ancestors.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

The falcon snow mountain unites what defines Andean pastoral religion: as the most powerful Wamani of Huancavelica, Wamanrasu watches over the herds, governs the weather, and keeps the connection to the dead of the community open.