Aymara People - Culture

Culture

The native language of the Aymara is Aymara. Additionally, many Aymara speak Spanish as a second language, when it is the predominant language in the countries where they live. The Aymara flag is known as the Wiphala; it consists of seven colors quilted together with diagonal stripes. Aymara have grown and chewed coca plants for centuries, using its leaves in traditional medicine as well as in ritual offerings to the sun god Inti and the earth goddess Pachamama. During the last century, coca has brought them into conflict with state authorities who have carried out coca eradication to prevent the extraction and isolation of the drug cocaine. Coca plays a central role in the indigenous religions of both the Aymara and the Quechua. Coca is used in the ritual curing ceremonies of the yatiri and, in more recent times, has become a symbol of cultural identity.

Most of contemporary Aymaran urban culture was developed in the working-class Aymara neighborhoods of La Paz, such as Chijini and others. Bowler hats have been worn by Quechua and Aymara women in Peru and Bolivia since the 1920s when a shipment of bowler hats was reportedly sent from Europe to Bolivia via Peru for use by Europeans working on the construction of the railroads. The hats were found to be too small and were distributed to locals. The luxurious, elegant and cosmopolitan Aymara Chola dress that is an icon to Bolivia (bowler hat, aguayo, heavy pollera, skirts, boots, jewelry, etc.) began and evolved in La Paz. It is, accordingly, an urban tradition. The dress has become an ethnic symbol for Aymara women. Also, many Aymara live and work as campesinos in the surrounding Altiplano.

The Aymara language has one surviving relative, spoken by a small, isolated group of about 1,000 people far to the north in the mountains inland from Lima in Central Peru (in and around the village of Tupe, Yauyos province, Lima department). This language, whose two dialects are known as Jaqaru and Kawki, is of the same family as Aymara. In fact, some linguists refer to it as 'Central Aymara', as opposed to the 'Southern Aymara', which is the predominant part of the family spoken in the Titicaca region.