“Made up traditions” have a long history in the grounds of tourism. An inmense number of festivities and rituals of the pasts are held for the interest shown by the market and tourists. A very interesting case is the celebration of the Inti Raymi, a ritual of celebration for the Inca emperor, for which groups of people from many locations arrived.
The genocide caused by the spaniards put an end to these celebrations, in the name of christianism. But in 1947, this festivity was brought up as a way to celebrate the “identity” of Cuzco, which can be extended to a particular idea of “peruanity”. With time, the festivity gained a commercial and touristic connotation, to the point that today a good spot to see the ceremony costs at least $70.

According to the note published by Caretas (a magazine from Lima), 100 thousand people go to this festivity and most of them are located outside of the ceremony center, Sacsayhuaman. The results, an increasing damage to the location, which looks like a dumpster after the celebration is over, and can suffer greater damages. Something similar happens in Machu Picchu where some of the citadel’s walls are in danger of falling down due to excess tourists.

Concerning this issues, the author of the note, the journalist Teresina Muñoz-Najar, wonders if it wouldn’t be necessary by now to relocate the festival to a place where it can’t cause any damage to an archeological patrimony. Since it’s an invented tradition, more than one might think that the change shouldn’t affect too much the celebration, which holds only a remote resemblence to the original one, not even celebrated at the same location. Unfortunately, it’s more likely that this celebration will continue to be held in this location until there are irreparable damages. And this seems to be the general rule in Cuzco: with an almost devastated Inca trail and Machu Picchu in problems -not to mention the chronic difficulties in Aguas Calientes- it’s getting close the moment to take decisions that will surely decide what to privilege: the historic patrimony or tourist industry.