Quyllurit’i: A Pilgrimage Between Stars and Snow
In Quechua, Qoyllur means “star” and Riti means “snow”. Quyllurit’i refers to the “Snow Star”.
Quyllurit’i is more than a religious event; it is a collective spiritual journey through the Apus, a living prayer where people and land are celebrated together, honouring Mother Earth.
Every year in mid-June, more than 70,000 pilgrims walk across the Peruvian Andes to the sacred glacier of Sinakara to celebrate Qoyllur’Riti, the Star of the Snow. It is a syncretic festivity rooted in both pre-Columbian Andean cosmology and Catholic devotion, centred around the miraculous appearance of the Lord of Qoyllur’Riti, a Christ figure whose image is said to have emerged on a rock near the glacier.
Legend tells of a young shepherd, Mariano Mayta, who befriended a mysterious boy named Manuel. Manuel, later revealed as a manifestation of the Lord of Qoyllur’Riti, helped Mariano tend his cattle. One day Manuel disappeared, leaving behind the image of Christ imprinted on a rock. This image became the object of veneration.
The ritual takes place a week before Corpus Christi, near the sanctuary of the Mahuayani district, at over 4,800 metres above sea level. Pilgrims travel from different regions: Q’eros, Pablitos, Qhapaq Qollas, Chunchos, and Quispicanchis, each nation distinguished by costume, territory, and historical representation. Many walk over 30 to 40 kilometres, carrying offerings and sacred intentions.
Traditionally, elder pilgrims would carry blocks of ice from the glacier down to Cusco’s Cathedral. The ukukus, mythical bear-men, guardians of the glaciers, led this act, their backs bearing the sacred glassy stones of ice. This melting ice became a profound symbol: the fusion of Andean ritual and Catholic celebration. The sacred meeting the sacred.
Nowadays, with climate change, snow is scarce and the tradition has been interrupted in that way of carrying the ice stone from the glacier to the cathedral. Yet the second year I went, it snowed and rained, I believe in answer to the pilgrims’ prayers, who asked for water in all its forms.
Qoyllur ’Riti is more than a religious event; it is a collective spiritual journey through the Apus, a living prayer where people and land are celebrated together, honouring Mother Earth.
As Don Adrián from Paucartambo said, Qoyllur Riti is not just a path. It is how we speak to the mountain, to the snow, to the Apus.” and words from a conversation with a Qhapac Qolla: The star is life, the snow is life — we do not want to lose life. -“Qoyllur kawsaymi, riti kawsaymi—kawsayta chinkayta manan munanchu.”
“Qoyllur kawsaymi, riti kawsaymi—kawsayta chinkayta manan munanchu.”
“The star is life, the snow is life — we do not want to lose life.”
Words and Photography by Laura Masia
Laura Masia is a visual artist, photographer, and journalist born in Barcelona and currently based in Cusco, Peru. Deeply connected to the Andean and Amazonian territories, her work explores the sacred woven into daily life. Through photography, essays, and visual arts, she seeks to honour the land as a living memory. She creates bridges between cultures, devotion, and nature. Her practice is both intimate and collective—an invitation to perceive life as sacred and to walk open-hearted and gently in relation with the Earth.
