(2 Jul 1996) Spanish/Nat
Indians in the Peruvian highlands have been celebrating the harvest of one of their most valuable resources -- the wool of the vicuna.
One of the more colourful events of the vicuna festival is a traditional dance which mimics the act of shearing the mountain animals
No one knows exactly the origins of this dance.
But it is believed to predate even the dominion of the ancient Incas in this part of South America.
The dancers play out an ancient legend according to which the Devil tempted a poor shepherd boy with a pair of golden shears.
SOUNDBITE:
The scissors are for playing and dancing with.
(Why was this included in the dance?)
Like I said, there was a child who was a shepherd and the Devil gave him these scissors. The Devil said it was made of gold. Actually they were cast from silver in those times, though nowadays they're made of steel.
SUPER CAPTION: Gabriel Hilario, dancer
The dance is an offering to the mountains, the stars and the mother earth.
With it, the indigenous people living in the Peruvian highlands hope to assure a bountiful harvest of vicuna wool.
The scissors the dancers use are modelled on those used to shear the vicuna.
SOUNDBITE:
We at home...well, there are different sorts of offerings. There are offerings made to the Apu-Huamani (mountain god) and to Pacha Mama (earth goddess). It might be, like now, that it's done for the vicuna. And we do it to enable to dance better, to ask for strength and not to feel pain and weariness during the trials we undertake.
SUPER CAPTION: Maximo Hilario, dancer
Vicunas are popularly known as the "walking gold of the Andes".
But with the large-scale migration of Andean peoples to Peru's cities, production has fallen into a deep decline over recent years.
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