Ruling Houses
The Peruvians enjoy the hell out of their elections - they pile into convoys of honking, shouting, flag-waving trucks and vans, chanting and honking to the rhythms of the drums, jamming the traffic through town into the night. I think it went on for six weeks or more. Nine political parties in Ollantaytambo and even the ones that didn't have a chance looked fully funded and fully manned, their laughing yelling columns of mechanized cavalry circling the plaza then streaming out of town while other partidos blocked them coming back in. And rallies, in the plaza, in the open-air amphitheater a couple blocks from town, rabble rousers on the stands emoting to their demographic, red alpaca ponchos, skirts and hats from back hills, soccer jackets and trucker hats from town; banners flying, free food and beer.
The Incas gave their people a hundred days a year off, dressed as Raymis, religious festivals, with glittering spectaculars and strong drink, and these people still expect the same, however the fiestas may be disguised. That was called Ayni, reciprocity; on the macro level, the state gave back to people some of what it took in taxes, and taxes were labor.
My landpeople were for Tierra y Libertad, Land and Liberty, under the banner of a green mountain, running Elvis Flores for Mayor. They hosted one major gathering with free food and drink into the dark, and three long lunches in their yard. It was their turn. The oldest daughter, Flora the archaeologist, took the month off to campaign for them.
I should have taken photos of those parades of trucks and cars, recorded the chanting INKA! INKA! INKA PACHACUTEQ! I guess I didn't think it needed recording. I just got shots of the aftermath.
I think that's how they look at their electoral process. You won't see that anywhere north of the Equator and probably nowhere else south of the line, outside of the old Inka domain. Just as the new Church has to integrate the old rituals to stay alive down here, so the right of the people to their Raymis surfaces with every election.
Tierra y Libertad won, and Flora will beginning in January serve as a regocida, a councilor, third down from Elvis, the Alcalde himself.
The Peruvians enjoy the hell out of their elections - they pile into convoys of honking, shouting, flag-waving trucks and vans, chanting and honking to the rhythms of the drums, jamming the traffic through town into the night. I think it went on for six weeks or more. Nine political parties in Ollantaytambo and even the ones that didn't have a chance looked fully funded and fully manned, their laughing yelling columns of mechanized cavalry circling the plaza then streaming out of town while other partidos blocked them coming back in. And rallies, in the plaza, in the open-air amphitheater a couple blocks from town, rabble rousers on the stands emoting to their demographic, red alpaca ponchos, skirts and hats from back hills, soccer jackets and trucker hats from town; banners flying, free food and beer.
The Incas gave their people a hundred days a year off, dressed as Raymis, religious festivals, with glittering spectaculars and strong drink, and these people still expect the same, however the fiestas may be disguised. That was called Ayni, reciprocity; on the macro level, the state gave back to people some of what it took in taxes, and taxes were labor.
My landpeople were for Tierra y Libertad, Land and Liberty, under the banner of a green mountain, running Elvis Flores for Mayor. They hosted one major gathering with free food and drink into the dark, and three long lunches in their yard. It was their turn. The oldest daughter, Flora the archaeologist, took the month off to campaign for them.
I should have taken photos of those parades of trucks and cars, recorded the chanting INKA! INKA! INKA PACHACUTEQ! I guess I didn't think it needed recording. I just got shots of the aftermath.
I think that's how they look at their electoral process. You won't see that anywhere north of the Equator and probably nowhere else south of the line, outside of the old Inka domain. Just as the new Church has to integrate the old rituals to stay alive down here, so the right of the people to their Raymis surfaces with every election.
Tierra y Libertad won, and Flora will beginning in January serve as a regocida, a councilor, third down from Elvis, the Alcalde himself.
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