A Day in the Life of Chasca

Imaynalla! My name is Chasca, I am 18 years old, and I have lived in Cusco my entire life. It’s a nice place, sometimes the weather can be freezing and the sky gray, but other times you can see the inti coming out of the mountains and lighting the entire ayllu with beautiful colors. Every day I contribute to my ayllu with agricultural some chores and textile work. It's not really that interesting, but I will tell you more about it later. Before working as an adult, I used to help my mother by taking care of my little sister Asiri. She was just 6 years old when she was selected by the Apupanaca to become an adías. I clearly remember that my parents were really proud of her, they said that in our ayllu there was never someone good enough to be chosen to serve the Inca and others misters with her work. But I only could think about how much I was going to miss her. Since she was gone, I have been thinking about what I want to do with my life. Sadly, there are not many options to choose from, or at least not many possible ones. My dream is to be a strong warrior like Mama Huaco. We all have heard about her since we were little girls, I personally admire her, she was so strong, taking her own decisions, managing her own army. Can you believe it? I could only dream about something like that… 

If you want to know about my day to day, it is pretty simple. I woke up before my father and crushed the corn to make the chicha that we drank almost with every meal. It’s like a tradition that I really enjoy, because the chicha it’s wonderful. Before doing my agricultural chores, I take a small and quick breakfast and go to the crop field. There I spend about two or three hours working and cultivating some seeds. That's really hard and exhausting work, so when I get to my wasi, I have to chew some coca leaf to have energy for the rest of the day. After that, I help my mother with the lunch and then wait for my father. Once he gets here, we all eat together and share a nice moment before going to work again. Yes, after waking up early, cultivating and baking, there are still more chores to do. Of course, the day couldn’t finish without weaving the mantle that I am working on as a gift in the next honor ceremony. I'm weaving it with woven threads and dyes that I personally made with herbs and grains. It has beautiful colors in it, I think she is going to love it. You know, this ceremony represents an important transition in puberty for girls, they are filled with lots of gifts and get a new name for their adult life. Most of the time, the name represents the girl’s essence or her more significant virtue.

Glossary

• Imaynalla: Hello, how are you?
• Inti: Sun
• Ayllu: Town, big family, set of families
• Apupanaca: Person that was in charge of the management of the church
• Adías: Beautiful and young ladies from 6 to 9 years that were chosen to join the acllawasi
• Acllawasi: Institution imposed by the Incas where selected women lived and worked
• Wasi: Home