Apu (god)

Apu
Protector mountain spirits
A snow capped mountain with a clear blue sky in the background
Apu Ausangate in Peru
Other namesawkillu, wamani, machula, achachila, mallku, si-pong
Venerated inPeru and Bolivia
AnimalsCondor
Ethnic groupQuechua people, Q'ero

In the traditional religion and mythology of the Andes region of Peru and Bolivia, an apu is the term used to describe the spirits of certain mountains,[1] volcanos,[2] and sometimes solitary rocks, typically displaying anthropomorphic features, that protect the local people.[3] While some researchers, such as Christian Mader and colleagues, view the mountains as the dwelling place of powerful deities and ancestors,[4] others, such as Ana Mariella Bacigalupo and Guillermo Salas Carreño, contend that the apu are the actual mountains.[5][6]

Apu are considered the most powerful of nature spirits,[3] can be considered either masculine or feminine,[7] and have varying personalities, with some being protectors and others being malicious.[8] Apu are the most active in the month of August[9] and apu can have romantic and familial ties with each other.[7][8]

Apu are one type of wak'a, which refer to material manifestation of the divine, and can include temples, shrines, sculptures, natural landforms, as well as other material objects and bodies.[4]

Apu are frequently associated with condors[7] and are often seen as ancestors.[10]

Meaning

Apu means "Lord" in Quechua[11] as well as sacred mountain or mountain deity.[4] Apu is a Quechuan term, and they're frequently called si-pong in the Chimu language.[12]

Apu is the most common name for mountain spirits in the Cuzco region of Peru, while they are usually called awkillu in Huanuco, wamani in Ayacucho, and machula, achachila, or mallku in different regions in Bolivia. Despite the various names, Victoria Castro and Carlos Aldunate argue that due to their similarities, they likely represent a Pan-Andean type of spirit.[13] Stella Nair also views Apu as Pan-Andean spirits with regional differences.[14]

Johan Reinhard states that these various names for mountain deities are sometimes used as different names for the same type of spirit, but are also used in certain regions to describe the deities who occupy certain levels in a spirit hierarchy, with the most powerful deities residing in the tallest mountains.[15]

History

A painting of the Virgin of Montserrat holding the Christ Child surrounded by acolytes and friars. To the right angels saw an apu, representing the destruction of traditional Andean religion by Christianity[16]

The veneration of mountain peaks possibly dates back to the Initial Period of the pre-hispanic Andes, which took place from 2000 to 900 BCE.[7]

Apu Campana was worshipped and appeased via human sacrifices and through the offerings of food and beverages, by the Moche, Chimu, and Incan Empires.[17]

The Inca Empire placed their buildings, shrines, and terraces at sacred locations including apu and abnormal outcrops, which were viewed as shrines of Pachamama. By doing so, they were able to transform the power of the land to themselves, give themselves spiritual authority, and control access to these sacred spaces.[14]

The Incas also frequently used mountains as sites of child sacrifices which may have functioned to request irrigation water or to claim legitimacy.[18]

As Catholicism was adopted by Indigenous people in the Andes, there was a decrease in and hostility towards traditional Andean religious beliefs, including the worship of apu.[19] This hostility is expressed in the Indigenous artist Francisco Chihuantito's painting Virgen de Monserrat.[16]

Since 2012, curanderos (healers) have engaged in spiritual tourism, where tourists will pay curanderos to perform ceremonies to invoke the apu to heal them.[20]

Role and powers

Apu not only serve as a protector for local people near the mountain they reside in, but can also be called upon to assist other people who are not in the vicinity.[3] Apu also are connected to water, fertility, and agriculture in the area near where they reside[4][7][10][21][22] and are responsible for the distribution of natural resources.[7] The role of mountain deities as a protector in Andean religion also makes them serve as war deities.[15]

If an apu is offended, they might cause harm to people residing nearby their mountain, through illness, accidents, natural disasters, or other means.[7][15][23] Apu will also replenish their life-force by "eating" people who die from illness or accidents near them.[24]

Andean mountain spirits form a hierarchy based on the height of their peaks, and apu communicate with each other across regions, with the taller and higher-ranking apu giving orders to the shorter and lower-ranking ones, in order to properly manage natural resources.[7]

In Andean communities, the relationship humans have with each other and with deities is often described with the word ayni,[25] a Quechuan and Aymaran term meaning "reciprocity".[26][25] In this system, relationships are maintained through continually giving and receiving gifts. The need for rituals to be continually performed, means that the relationship humans have with the divine can alternate between being in balance and being imbalanced.[25] This reciprocal relationship is mostly discussed with relationships between humans and between humans and divinities, but also exists between humans and the natural world, humans and ancestors, and between non-human entities.[27]

For the Quechua-speaking Q'ero community, different entities in the universe live according to a hierarchy, with apu and Pachamama on the top, then humans, and then alpacas and llamas. Ancestors also occupy a level in the hierarchy.[28][27]

For many Indigenous people, "believing" in apu gives them more power to harm you for your transgressions, causing some people to choose not to believe in them. However, they also contend, that apu are material beings, who still effect the environment and can still harm people who do not believe in them.[29] For example, an Indigenous man named Pablo stated following a massive flood,

"I don't believe in Apu, because then they cannot get me... If you believe in Apu, then they can destroy your house with floods.... [My house] was destroyed anyway. The Apu was angry because I looted him and worked in the mines, so he destroyed my house. If I had fed him pagos of coca and fruit, maybe I would have a better life."

— Pablo, interviewed by Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, Pan-Indigenous Ethical Cosmopolitics, page 27

For this reason, some Indigenous people might choose not believe in apu, but still venerate and feed them with offerings.[30]

Modern day veneration

While Indigenous Andeans could directly understand apu's moods in the past, today they can only be understood indirectly thrugh signs such as a person's health, events, or through dreams.[19]

Rites

A Paqo (traditional healer) asking an Apu to bless a mesa
Apacheta on the path to the top of Apu Mamá Simona

Apu are still venerated today.[31] For example, in the Palpa district of Peru, local people will bring seawater to the summit of the apu, Cerro Llamocca to ask for rain during periods of drought.[32]

Another rite that is performed for apu is pago,[30][33] in which one blows on coca leaves to bring their prayers to the apu. The specific details of this ritual vary in different communities, but they usually involve coca leaves, llama fat, sugar alcohol, cigarettes, and sometimes involved animal sacrifices.[33]

In the coastal area of Northern Peru, curanderos will channel the consciousness of apu through ceremonially ingesting a mescaline brew made from Wachuma (San Pedro cactus). During this ceremony, the curandero will also use mesa (a portable altar or medicine bundle containing ceremonial objects) that serve as a representation of the cosmos contain items such as ritual stones, shells, and sacred water taken from certain apu and lakes.[34][35]

In the Uchumiri Community in Yanaquihua District in Peru, the Esquela Tusuy dance is a ritual that honors both Pachamama as well as Apu Coropuna, in order to provide for the safe return of llama herders.[36]

Apu are also venerated through the incremental building of stone piles called apachetas by passer-bys.[32]

Veneration among Christians

Apu and other mountain deities are also venerated among Christians in the Andes due to religious syncretism.[37][38] For example, some Peruvian Christians believe Saint Peter holds the key to the spirit world within Apu Coropuna.[37]

In addition, certain saints may be associated with specific mountain deities, and some areas use the cross as a symbol for the mountain deities.[37] Indigenous people from Northern Peru oftentimes will make pagos to apu as well as to crosses, and some Indigenous Northern Peurivan curanderos have interpreted Saint Cyprian and Jesus as apu.[38]

Some Evangelical Q'ero converts will continue to venerate apu and Pachamama in secret.[25]

In the Northern Peru, many Indigenous curanderos will combine the Indigenous shamanic ideas of directly knowing something (conocer) that can be perceived or experienced, with the Christian idea of believing (creer) in beings like God and Jesus who are imperceptible. In this way, the curanderos can know the apu, while believing in God and Jesus.[39]

Apu and environmentalism

Some Indigenous Andeans view the effects of climate change as expressions of apu's pain and wrath for disrespecting and corrupting the natural world. In this worldview, apu are turned to as ethical leaders to guide humans towards a respectful coexistence with the Earth.[40] Corruption, greed, and environmental destruction are often viewed as stemming from the same source, which is a disrespect of the sentient world. Therefore, to protect apu from mining and industrial agriculture, activists must also fight corruption and greed. Apu help in this fight, by offering spiritual protection from the government officials, mining companies, and others who wish to harm both apu and the community.[41]

Traditionally, The Q'ero community decided when to plant tubers for a successful harvest, by appointing a community member as an arariwa, to observe the Pleiades and make offerings to an apu and Pachamama. A poor harvest is viewed as the arariwa failing to fulfill their role. In recent times, climate change has increased the chances of a poor harvest, making the arariwa's task increasingly difficult.[42][28]

Some Q'ero view the effects of climate change as a scientific phenomenon and others view it as the end of the current cycle of time.[43] However, most Q'ero view the effects of climate change as them losing their ability to communicate with and receive gifts from apu and Pachamama. This is viewed as the result of the Q'ero's abandoning some of their traditional ceremonial practices that link them with apu and Pachamama, and the decreasing scope and participation of the practices that remain. Evangelical churches, particularly the Maranata Church, proselytizing to the Q'ero and the conversion of some Q'ero people to these faiths, are also viewed as a contributor to the fraying of relationships with non-human divinites.[44][45]

However, despite the increase in climate change related devastation, many Q'eros still venerate apu and Pachamama, and note that this is not the first time they have had difficulty influencing the natural environment. In order to survive the impacts of climate change, many Q'eros are working to re-establish frayed relationships, and maintain existing relationships with apu and Pachamama.[46]

Specific apu

Name Region Source
Ausangate Peru, Cuzco region [3][47]
Wamanlipa Peru, Cuzco region [47]
Salkantay Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Mama Simona Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Pillku Urqu Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Manuel Pinta Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Wanakawri Peru, Cuzco region [3][8]
Pachatusan Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Pikchu Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Saksaywaman Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Viraqochan Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Pukin Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Sinqa Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Akamari [3]
Antikuna Peru, Junín region
Chachani Peru, Arequipa region
Kimsa Chata
Illampu Bolivia, La Paz region) [3]
Lady of Illimani [3]
Machu Picchu Peru, Machupicchu District [3]
Pitusiray [3]
Putucusi Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Qullqipunku Peru, Cuzco region
Sinaqara Peru, Cuzco region
Tunupa Bolivia, Potosí region [3]
Willka Wiqi (Wakay Willka) Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Wamanrasu Peru, Huancavelica region
Wayna Picchu Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Yanantin Peru, Cuzco region [3]
Cerro Baúl Peru, Moquegua region [18]
Cerro Wiracochan Peru, Cuzco region [18]
Pichu Pichu Peru, Arequipa region [48]
Coline Peru, Puno region [48]
Llamocca Peru, Arequipa region [49]
Solimana Peru, Arequipa region [2]

See also

  • El Tío – Bolivian mine guardian deity
  • Supay – Inca and Andean underworld deity or spirit, later associated with the Christian Devil
  • wamani (Inca mythology) or huamani - mountain god

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Nair 200, p. 213.
  2. 1 2 Baca, Mateusz; Molak, Martyna; Sobczyk, Maciej; Węgleński, Piotr; Stankovic, Anna (2014). "Locals, resettlers, and pilgrims: A genetic portrait of three pre-Columbian Andean populations". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 154 (3): 402–412. doi:10.1002/ajpa.22524. ISSN 1096-8644. PMID 24801631.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 O'Neill, Patt. "Inca Shamanic Glossary - A". www.incaglossary.org. Archived from the original on 2025-10-18. Retrieved 2026-06-14.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Mader & Reindel, p. 3.
  5. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, p. 24.
  6. ↑ Salas Carreño 2017, p. 134.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Williams & Nash, p. 458.
  8. 1 2 3 Seligmann, Linda J. (1987). "The Chicken in Andean History and Myth: The Quechua Concept of Wallpa". Ethnohistory. 34 (2): 165. doi:10.2307/482251. ISSN 0014-1801. JSTOR 482251.
  9. ↑ Cometti 2020, p. 40.
  10. 1 2 Bacigalupo 2024, p. 21.
  11. ↑ Steele, Paul Richard; Allen, Catherine J. (2004). Handbook of Inca Mythology. ABC-CLIO. pp. 213-214. ISBN 9781576073544. Apu .
  12. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, p. 41.
  13. ↑ Castro & Aldunate, p. 73.
  14. 1 2 Nair 2007, p. 228.
  15. 1 2 3 Reinhard 1985, p. 310.
  16. 1 2 Nair 200, p. 230-231.
  17. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, p. 25.
  18. 1 2 3 Williams & Nash, p. 459.
  19. 1 2 Bacigalupo 2024, p. 34.
  20. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, p. 36.
  21. ↑ Cometti 2020, p. 48.
  22. ↑ Salas Carreño 2017, p. 133.
  23. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, pp. 36–37.
  24. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, p. 37.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Cometti 2020, p. 44.
  26. ↑ Mannheim, Bruce (1986). "The Language of Reciprocity in Southern Peruvian Quechua". Anthropological Linguistics. 28 (3): 268. ISSN 0003-5483. JSTOR 30027956.
  27. 1 2 Cometti 2024, p. 46.
  28. 1 2 Martin & Cometti, p. 74.
  29. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, p. 27.
  30. 1 2 Bacigalupo 2024, pp. 27–28.
  31. ↑ Nair 2007, p. 231.
  32. 1 2 Mader & Reindel, p. 5.
  33. 1 2 Williams & Nash, p. 461.
  34. ↑ "The College of Psychic Studies : Enlighten : The andean shaman mesa by dr ruben orellana". The College of Psychic Studies. 2026-01-15. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
  35. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, pp. 34–35.
  36. ↑ Duche-Pérez & Mamani-Daza, p. 535.
  37. 1 2 3 Reinhard 1985, p. 314.
  38. 1 2 Bacigalupo 2024, p. 33.
  39. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, pp. 26–27.
  40. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, p. 39.
  41. ↑ Bacigalupo 2024, p. 40.
  42. ↑ Cometti 2020, p. 42.
  43. ↑ Cometti 2020, pp. 42–43.
  44. ↑ Cometti 2020, pp. 43–44.
  45. ↑ Martin & Cometti, p. 75.
  46. ↑ Martin & Cometti, pp. 80–82.
  47. 1 2 Cometti 2020, p. 43.
  48. 1 2 Williams & Nash, p. 464.
  49. ↑ Mader & Reindel, p. 1.

References

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