Giving back to Andean communities
Inside Colectivo Huachuma's monthly cultural events
Since December 2020, Colectivo Huachuma has been sponsoring cultural events in Northern Peruvian communities. With your support, we have been able to host these events monthly since September 2023!
Our goals?
Build multigenerational connections between youth and elders
Support local healers to take on mentorship roles
Activate community contact with local huacas (pre-Columbian temples)
Facilitate conversations about Huachuma between local medicine people
Plant Huachuma
Provide opportunities for community ceremony
Our team (gracias Josip, Felipe, y Fabrizio!) is gathering community talking points and conclusions from each of these events and creating a presentation about protecting cultural heritage through connection with Huachuma. The results will be shared at the International Conference on Curanderismo in North Peru in early 2025.
Remember, these events are made possible by your donations. Every little bit of support - $5, $25, or $50 - provides cultural opportunities for Indigenous kids, youth, and elders in North Peru.
Read on for a look inside the last 7 months of community events!
In solidarity,
The Colectivo Huachuma team
September: San Pedro de Casta
Director Nachi led the community in a full-day workshop about their native Huachuma, harvest techniques, and spirituality. Together, the community designed a project to preserve native plants on their land and to cultivate a Huachuma garden for future harvest. This project is well on its way to becoming reality in 2024, thanks to seeds planted in the September event.
October: Aypate
The local healers of Ayabaca gathered at the Inca citadel of Aypate in October to make a collective offering. They ranged in age from 15 to 70, and it was the first time in years that they had been together as a group and had the chance to converse about issues affecting their profession. They were led in the offering, prayer, and Huachuma ceremony by Director Simeon.
November: Chankillo
Colectivo Huachuma has been hosting regular events with the community of Barrios Altos / Chankillo for more than 3 years. In November, Director Felipe led the community in a collective offering, cactus planting, individual cleansings, and group San Pedro ceremony.
December: Portachuelo
A year ago, Colectivo Huachuma found one of the last remaining Motherplants of the Ayabaca region in the garden of cattle farmers 4 hours’ drive from the city. These cacti have been nearly extinguished in the wild by overharvesting, and to find such a large plant was unprecedented. Unfortunately, the owners were beginning a year-long project to remove the plant, which had hundreds of limbs. Colectivo Huachuma, led by Directors Josip and Simeon, and community leaders from Arreypite returned with a truck to purchase the limbs that had been slated for burning and take them to the Community of Arreypite, where they would be planted. Now that this plant has shown economic value, the owners have decided to allow it to stay, provided we continue to propagate more limbs each year. This single century-old plant could be the answer to repopulating Huachuma in the region.
January: Huanchaco
Directors Josip and Felipe developed new projects with local healers in Huanchaco and Chicama over a lunchtime conversation and collective offering.
February: Huamanchacate
Director Felipe led a daytime pilgrimage to Huaca Huamanchacate, a Moche temple in the Chimbote region. Urban youth from Chimbote attended the pilgrimage, collective offering, and San Pedro planting.
March: Palamenco
Colectivo Huachuma directors led a trip to the Petroglyphs of Palamenco in collaboration with the Indigenous Community of Lacramarca. There was an educational workshop, a conversation about local cultural heritage, and a multi-generational all-night San Pedro ceremony which included the president of the community. San Pedro cuttings were donated, and a collective offering of grains, fruits, seashells, and coca was made to the gods depicted in the petroglyphs.
Upcoming in April: Kuélap, Amazonas
April’s event will be held at the archeological site of Kuélap by Carlin, a healer who is one of the contributors to our recent Statement. While still in the Andes, Amazonas is the furthest-east province in which Huachuma is used traditionally, which makes this a unique site for an event. The community will make an offering, converse over lunch about conserving Huachuma and traditional knowledge, and have the opportunity to drink the medicine with their local curandero.
We look forward to sharing more with you in the upcoming months! Your support is greatly appreciated - you make this work possible.
Colectivo Huachuma is a Peru-based nonprofit association which cares for the bio-cultural sustainability of the San Pedro Cactus. Our leadership is an alliance of curanderos, curanderas, Indigenous leaders, and Andean community members. Together, we empower communities to protect, conserve, and plant Huachuma and explore sustainable practices for growing and working with traditional medicine in Peru. Our projects support and revitalize cultural traditions in Andean and Coastal Peruvian communities.
Our organization was founded in 2020 to unite and provide a platform for the voices of traditional curanderos and curanderas in North and Central Peru. The collective convened to address growing concerns with Huachuma's conservation status and the loss of traditional medicinal knowledge in North Peru. The knowledge and practices of San Pedro were declared Cultural Heritage of Peru in November 2022, an important step towards recognizing the unique cultural world of this medicine and the skill of practitioners. Colectivo Huachuma takes this a step further by working at the community level to ensure the survival of Huachuma and the healing arts of North Peru.
Amazing work! Congratulations. Where can we find more information about that International Conference on Curanderismo in North Peru in early 2025?