Inca relic returned to Cusco at solstice festivity

Indigenous communities sitting on remnants of the once-powerful Incan Empire celebrated the ancient son god for winter solstice, a dear festivity canceled last year due to pandemic restrictions in Peru.

The ceremony was also marked as President Francisco Sagasti passed the Echenique disc to Cusco authorities.

The Andean relic in possession of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian was returned to Peru earlier this week.

Thursday reenactment in Cusco, paid homage to Inca's celebration of the rebirth of the sun god Inti, who watched them and ruled for abundance in crops.

Actors participating on Thursday represent the ethnic groups with common ancestry in the ancient Incas, which its heritage spread across Ecuador, Bolivia,Chile and Argentina. They dress in gold and silver jewelry for the festivity, featuring theatre, dance, and recreate sacrifices.

The Inti Raymi, as the celebration is traditionally called, took place on Thursday in Cusco, a UNESCO world site and once the capital of the Inca empire.

The annual fete began in a temple where Incas once worshipped the sun and continued at a central plaza before reaching a fort.

Spanish conquerors and Roman Catholic priests prohibited the celebration in the 16th century, but worshippers kept the ritual alive with smaller underground festivities.

A group of artists officially reinitiated the Inti Raymi jubilee in Peru in 1944.

While the celebration is usually a landmark in Cusco witnessed by thousands of locals and tourists alike. This year it was performed at closed doors.

After the ceremony, president Francisco Sagasti handed Cusco authorities the Echenique disc, an Andean relic in possession of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, returned to Peru earlier this week.