World Heritage
Cultural
Intangible
Natural
To receive information, enter your email:

     
 
 
Follow Caserita.com on Twitter
 
   
Caserita.com on Facebook
   
Kallawayas: alternative medicine
     
 

The Kallawaya culture dates from the Pre-Inca period. It originated in the Charazani region (and surroundings of Curva, Chajaya, Inka, Chari, etc.), located in the northern part of the department of La Paz.

This practice is currently carried out itinerantly using plants, animals, minerals, etc., and is part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage recognized by UNESCO.

The Kallawaya speak Quechua, Aymara, Spanish and and their own language where kallawaya means "initiate".

Their magical and medicinal lore is passed down from one generation to the next, and their therapies are based on rituals, ceremonies, massages, potions, etc., that are used in order to prevent, treat or cure physical or psychic ailments.

The kallawaya have a special Weltanschauung, so their psychotherapy works in three dimensions: symbolic, spiritual and animist. The latter awaits the return of the Ajayu (the soul or element that generates life).

Female kallawayas have limited participation in some rites, especially in ceremonies where shapes and colors play an important part.

If you want to find yourself, get healed or simply know more about this culture, we recommend that you visit Curva, the world capital of itinerant doctors. This mystic place has an intercultural hospital to serve you.

There is also an 80-km trail that crosses the Apolobamba cordillera at 5100 meters above sea level and ends at the foot of Akamani, the sacred mountain of the kallawayas. You could also take the Niño Corini road, an Inca road, which leads to the Charazani hot springs. 

 
   
 

Related Articles

 
     
 
 Aymara Culture
The aymara culture is a pre-inca culture which gave birth to the Tihuanacota empire which extended over the altiplano from the 5th century BC to the...
 
Dried Bolivian foods
One of the legacies left by the pre-Colombian cultures, like the Tiwanaku and Inca, is food drying. This is a process to preserve food that can be...
 
   
 

Comments - Click here to add a comment

 
     
 

Click here
to add a comment.
 
 
     
     
Visit our handicraft
online store
www.caserita.com
 
Join us writing, sharing your experiences, photos, news from Bolivia.
Contact us
Hand made Andean Hat - Alpaca Wool
 
$ 17.00
 
   
Brocade Long poncho ruana - Alpaca Wool
 
$ 129.00
 
   
     
Caserita.infoContact
© Caserita Handicraft SRL