THE SACREDNESS OF WATER IN KUMBE MAYO, PERU

Abstract

This article analyzes the cult of water at Kumbe Mayo. To this end, we start with a spatial study of the
diverse symbolic elements that make up the canal, since our objective is to identify a pattern in the
location of these symbols along its route. Furthermore, we carry out a symbolic analysis of stone
features, petroglyphs, and the shape of the canal and the caves. The spatial study shows that there
is no regularity in the distance from one stone feature or petroglyph to another, or in the location of
the caves with respect to the river. However, there is a regularity in the orientation of the symbols with
respect to the position of the canal. The symbolic analysis allows us to understand the themes and
principles of the Andean cosmovision related to the cult of water. Of the symbols, the ones that stand
out here are geometric figures, spirals, squared crosses, anthropomorphic heads and feet, frogs,
lizards, birds, felines, and alligator, among others, which are associated with themes such as the
ancestors, the aquatic world, fertility, space and time, the interior world, and the elements that
communicate with the interior world. Of the symbolic elements, those related to the principles of
relativity, multiformity, the center (Chawpi), union (tinkuy), and bifurcation (pallka).