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Qoyllur Rit'i Pilgrimage in Sinakara/Ocongate
Qoyllur Rit'i is a Quechua pilgrimage to the Sinakara Valley near Ocongate, in the mountains above Cusco, where thousands climb to a glacier-side shrine before the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi. Costumed dancers called ukukus lead the ascent, and the festival, inscribed by UNESCO in 2011, blends devotion to Christ with older Andean reverence for mountain spirits and stars.
High in the mountains above Cusco, in a glacier-fed valley called Sinakara near the town of Ocongate, one of the largest indigenous pilgrimages in the Americas takes place each year in the days before Corpus Christi.