Legends of Ancash

Now, for something a bit different, the Dowbrigade would like to dig out and dust off his Ethnographer’s pith helmet. The Paucity of postings during the past few days is due to our work putting the final touches on the web page of our son’s new Eco-tourism Hotel nestled in a valley high in the Andes mountains. While we cannot officially announce it until we get the OK from the boss, we can post a link to one part of the site: the continuing compilation of our translations of the legends of the region, one of the earliest inhabited spots on the entire Americn continent, North or South.

High in the Peruvian Andes lies an isolated valley, rich in history
and natural wonders, called the Callejon de Huaylas. It is home to some
of the oldest known human habitation in the New World – some 14,000 years
ago. Long before the reign of the Incas and the invasion of the Conquistadors,
this rich ecosystem was the center of the Chavin civilization, one of
the oldest in Peru. And thousands of years before that, the area was
inhabited by prehistoric, neolithic tribes.

In the 1980s a cave was discovered a few kilometers north of Carhuaz,
on the other side of the R?o Santa in the Cordillera Negra. The cave
contained bones of mastodons and llamas and suggested human occupation
dating from as far back as 12000 BC. Situated close to a natural rock
formation which looks vaguely like a guitar, the site is now known as
the cave of Hombre Guitarrera (Guitar Man).

The legends in this collection can trace their origins to the Chavin culture.
Reaching its height between 400 and 600 B.C., the Chavin civilization was known
for its intense design skill, fueled by ritual use of psychedelic snuff, especially
visible in their advanced textile and metal work. After a prolonged and gradual
decline, they were eventually conquered by the Incas less than a hundred years
before the arrival of the Spaniards.

This wide valley, some 200 km long, is split by the Santa River and fringed
by a picturesque group of towns and villages, among them Huaraz, Carhuaz, Yungay
and Caraz. Today, the Callejon is known as the "Switzerland of South America" and
is a center of mountain climbing and eco-tourism.

It is largely a land which time forgot. Wedged between two soaring mountain
chains -the Cordillera Negra and Cordillera Blanca- the Callejon de Huaylas
offers incomparable Andian vistas, an indigenous population living largely
as their ancestors did centuries ago, and easy access to snow-capped peaks,
pristine mountain lakes, and little-known ancient ruins.

It is here, in the still-under-construction "Eco-Hostal
Villa Maria", built and managed by our eldest son on land we bought
before he was born, a complete escape from the wired world and our normal concerns
and behavior patterns, holed up in a cozy adobe cabin, two simple rooms with
a hand-crafted fireplace, electricity but no phone or internet access, that
we came across a slim volume published by a tiny local press and titled "Legends
of Ancash."

It contained a charming and revealing collection of myths and legends, collected
over 20 years by Marcos Yauri Monteros and first published in 1961 by P.L.
Villanueva, Lima, ed. The stories were collected from three main sources throughout
the Callejon: 1) high school students, most of them living in towns and monolingual
in Spanish; older people from the town and villages, almost all bilingual Spanish-Quechua,
and 3) camposinos, nearly all monolingual Quechua speakers. Quechua is the
most widely-spoken indigenous language in the entire Andean region, a linguistic
descendent of the language of the Incas, and the second "official" language
of Peru.

Although our translation is imperfect and the last in a chain of oral
and written transition covering centuries and at least three languages,
we think the stories are poignant and revealing in their own right, and
offer a tantalizing glimpse into another world. Here is another of the
ten Legends of Ancash.

The War Between the Ancoillas and the Apuchallas

Back in the old times there were two gigantic mountains. One, Apuchallas,
extremely poor.

The other, Ancoillas, fabulously rich due to the gold and silver that
it possessed in
abundance.

The inhabitants of Apuchallas were afflicted with hunger and misery.
The people of
Ancoillas lived in luxury, their hands overflowing with riches. They
celebrated with
scandalous parties, which eventually corrupted them.

The people of Apuchallas occasionally came to the Ancoillas to plead
for aid.

"Give us a bit of food," they implored, or some of the gold and silver
that you have in
excess."

But the overbearing (ensobercidos) Ancoillas laughed at them, and threw
them out of their
palaces.

"Get out of here, fleas. There is nothing for you here!"

In this way they insulted and humiliated them, without an ounce of compassion.
It happened
then, that no longer able to bear the poverty, the Apuchallas decided
to declare war on their
greedy neighbors. The fight broke out, and the battle between the two
colossi was
ferocious.

Apuchallas attacked with their slings. But the giant stones he was flinging
did not hurt
Ancoillas. His aim was poor, for he was not a warrior, but just an old
laborer

Ancoillas, proud of his power and wealth, didn’t take Apuchallas seriously.
He mocked the
ancient Apuchallas.

"Your anger makes me laugh," he crowed, "You are angry because
you envy my wealth."

And for a long time things stayed that way, with Ancoillas ignoring his
feeble attacker.

A long time passed, and Apuchallas did not grow weary of his attack.
At last Ancoillas responded, and shot at Apuchallas with his golden sling. From that point
on the battle was
very bloody. The rivers and streams ran red with the blood of the combatants.

Both giants were now exhausted.

In the last battle, al rayar el crespeculo, Ancoillas burst the right
eye of brave Apuchallas.

Half blind, the ancient laborer could not extract his vengance. While
he crawled on the earth
looking for another stone, Ancoillas unleashed another shot with such
force and accuracy
that Apuchallas fell dead with a shattered head.

Ancoillas felt happy.

"Now I am the Sole Master of the Earth" he shouted repeatedly. But
as time passed, his
people began to lose their wealth and feel sorrow. The orgies no longer
fulfilled them.

On the other hand, the population of Apuchallas began to feel happier.
For their lands began to produce gold and silver, just as the lands of the Ancoillas had in
the past But they did not
waste the riches in vice, but instead bought tools, with which they worked
their fields, which
were now completely clean.

It seems that during the long war, Apuchallas had flung at his enemy
all of the rocks and
stones from their lands, and the Ancoillas had thrown all of the gold
and silver in their territory at the lands of their vanquished foe Apuchallas.

Links to all ten of the Legends