Concept of the day

Pachamama

Mother Earth of the Andes, “fed” with offerings in August.

Coca (Erythroxylum coca): leafy branches

The concept’s plantCocaErythroxylum cocaBolivia left the UN convention in 2011 in protest at the ban on leaf chewing and rejoined in 2013 with a reservation protecting that right.Plant page →

Pachamama is the earth-mother figure of the Andean peoples. Reverence for her is especially widespread on the Altiplano of Peru and Bolivia and is a tradition distinct from the Inca sun religion ^[1].

Pachamama is believed to need to “eat and drink”, so an offering called a “despacho” or “payment” is prepared for her. As described by a ritual master’s family from Peru, it includes Coca leaves, corn, seeds, sweets, white, pink and red carnation petals, a seashell and incense, while chicha or another drink is sprinkled on the earth. The family makes the offering in August ^[2].

Its meaning is reciprocity: the family shares its food and drink with the earth, and the earth feeds and protects them ^[2].

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