Every year in June, the people of the Ecuadorian village Cacha gather together to celebrate their sun god. The students in the Cachamsi program ( the medical Spanish program I am in here in Ecuador) are always invited to take part in the ceremony.As a Christian, I really struggled with this. Should I even attend such a ceremony when I believe with all my heart there is no other god other than the God of the Bible and that nothing is to be worshiped besides Him? After thinking and praying I decided to go for 2 reasons. 1) I knew that this would be an opportunity to get to know the other students in the program since we would be traveling together. I'm only here for 3 weeks, and I didn't want to miss this opportunity to build relationships. 2) I wanted to see how the indigenous people of this village lived and what they believed. I knew that I wouldn't take part in the ceremony, but I wanted to be able to learn about the people.
So on Saturday night a bunch of students packed into a van and traveled 20 minutes and up a mountain to the village of Cacha. When we arrived it was around 8:30 pm and pitch black. From the mountain was the most beautiful sight....a city below with innumerable lights. The city below was Riobamba, where I live. I found it hard to believe that the city was so big, but so far I have only walked one street in the whole city.
After we put our things in the cabins we headed to the restaurant on the reservation to have tea and cookies and talk to each other. I spent my time talking with four other girls about our time in Ecuador and other travel plans. Afterwards we headed to our cabins to get a few hours of sleep. I am not kidding when I say that this was the worse night of sleep I've ever had. There was a chemical smell so pungent in the room that my nose didn't get used to it all night. I was even thankful when my nose got stuffy because I couldn't smell it. And it was soooo cold and I was on the top bunk which was wobbly...it was a rough night.
We were up at 4:45 am because the participants in the ceremony were going to do a purification washing around 5:00 am. I made it clear that I would not be washing myself...but this is when things got very interesting. To get to the springs we climbed down a mountain in the dark because it was before the sun came up. Besides concentrating very hard to keep from falling....I also noticed there was such beautiful land on the way to the spring. It was like a canyon, and you could see the vegetation on the mountain so well. One we reached the spring there was a shaman...he explained the ceremony in Spanish and proceeded to lead the participants in exercises. This is where I had to figure out what to do...Do I just stand here and risk being called out? Or do I do the exercises. I eventually decided to just sit down on the cliff while everyone else took part. As I observed what was going on...I had to pray. I prayed that my spirit would be protected. I prayed for the people there that they would know the truth, I prayed for the village of Cacha to be captured by the truth of Jesus Christ instead of a "zeal not according to knowledge". I was so burdened by what was happening...I prayed for God's presence to come and to override everything else that was happening. As I sat on the elevated cliff praying it was like I was looking over everyone who was there. I felt like a watchman (watchwoman) sent by God to care for the people.
As everyone was taking turns washing, the shaman began to ask people to introduce themselves. By this point he was standing beside me and I hear from his mouth..."Africana". When he said Africana I knew he was talking about me and I knew he thought I was from Africa and he wanted me to introduce myself. It was soooooo funny. So I introduced myself in Spanish and and said I was from the United States... the shaman was pretty surprised to hear that I was from the US and not Africa.
After the washing was all over, we all had to climb back up the mountain and I had de ja vu of altitude sickness. I had to take so many breaks to get up the mountain and I was breathing so hard...but I made it and I didn't get sick afterward. When we got back to our cabins, the same sky that was so beautiful with the lights last night was now covered with the whitest clouds. As a matter of fact it was as if we were standing in the clouds as we stood on top of the mountain.
Around 11:00 am the rest of the ceremony began to take place. Boy was I in for a surprise. I thought it was going to be like a party with people from the village I could observe and talk too. But the shaman showed up again. This time everyone stood in a circle and he began to make offerings. I started off in the circle observing, but when he started praying to the sun....I had to get out of there. I couldn't take it. So I went outside of the platform where the people where and began to pray again. This time as I was praying I wondered if anyone had ever shared the Gospel with the people of Cacha. I also marveled at the fact that people were willing to follow the words and directions of the shaman and open their spirits to something they had no idea about. I wondered if people where that apathetic about their spirit and did not understand that it is the only part of them that will live forever and should be handled with much care or if they were so open to spiritual things because they were searching for something more in life. I prayed for open doors to share the gospel, open hearts to receive it, and for God to open my mouth to share it.
By the time that was all over....I was so ready to leave. Seriously...I'm usually the type of person that can go with the flow and be patient, but I was just ready to go. We couldn't leave just yet because there was food to be served. So we ate and conversed with each other. Over conversation I realized that the drink they were serving was most likely a drink that is made using spit from the shaman....I promptly put it down and poured it out at my earliest convenience.
What an experience! Do I regret going? No, because the mountains and fields and clouds I saw were the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen. I gave God glory for his creation. Also I formed relationships with my peers that I would have missed out on otherwise...and who knows they may prove to be an open door. And, I learned about a culture that I will likely never see again after this trip, but they now have a place in my heart. Did I dislike what took place? Yes...watching people pray and dance before a sun god...while so many people reject the God who created them and loves them and has a purpose for their lives...was not a pleasant experience.
I guess when you are experiencing new cultures...religion is a part of that. So I am happy to have gained this experience. I think for the rest of my life and travels I will remember this day and think about what it means to love every nation of people but to also love the one true God.
Until tomorrow!
EP
<3
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