What is Ayni? A short introduction to the the Andean Cosmovision
The following is an attempt at unpacking the core aspects of Ayni, the phenomena that is a very fundamental aspect of the Andean Cosmovision.
The essence of ayni is reciprocity, that is, when you receive something you give something in return, and when you give something you receive something in return. This keeps balance in the relationship, but it also does more than that. It nourishes the relationship as well. It is really quite unlike giving money in exchange for something at the store. It is not a matter of breaking even in an exchange. It is like a spiral where the cycle of giving and receiving elevates both parties and continues to elevate as the cycle is repeated.
In the Andean Cosmovision humans are not distinct from Nature nor is Nature distinct from the Cosmos. The role of humans is not to use Nature for our own good nor to serve as stewards over it but instead to interact with Nature in a dance of respect and mutual support. We are but part of the fabric of life, not its apex; we are children of the Pachamama, but not her special children.
The Pachamama (the great mother who is the planet Earth) is but a part of the conscious Cosmos, yet she has her own consciousness, and the chakras (the fields that are cultivated for crops) are daughters of the Pachamama and have their own consciousness as well.
It is not possible to have a true relationship with inert, mindless, matter, but in the Western view of reality that is how rivers and stones and trees and the Cosmos itself are basically seen. Within our Western worldview we can love a forest or the Earth, but it is hard to conceive of them loving us back. The Andean people have a very different experience of reality, one that allows a true, not just metaphorical, relationship between humans and Nature and the Cosmos.
When the Andeans gather together socially or in ceremony or to do communal work, they perform brief ceremonies to invite into their circle the Pachamama and the Apus and other great Beings of the Cosmos, to honor them and to express respect and gratitude. This is all done as ayni, to nourish a relationship of mutual support and service. They serve the Cosmos and the Cosmos serves them, and from this their sense of relationship becomes stronger. Ayni is not tit for tat, but rather it nourishes the relationship, making it stronger and deeper. Ayni is the pump that keeps the energy flowing through the people and their Cosmos.
As mentioned, a field is called a chakra and each chakra has a name given by the people who work that field. Before entering a chakra to work the people give a brief ritual of gratitude and respect to the Pachamama and her daughter. A little chicha (corn beer) may be poured upon the ground to slake their thirsts. Upon leaving the field another brief ritual may given to thank them for their generosity, and in this way ayni is nourished. At that time a little thanks may also be given to Illapa, the god of thunder, thanking him for sending the rain (and for not sending lightning).
Ayni in the relationships among humans may be reasonably easy for us to understand from our own cultural perspective, but when we look at the Andean people's ayni with the animals upon which they depend, then we start to move into new territory.
The following description pertains to people who live in isolated villages in the high Andes and who still live the Andean Cosmovision. These people and their animals and their plants, barely eke out a living at altitudes as high as 15,000 feet in villages that may be a two-day walk from the nearest road.
The alpacas and llamas make it possible for the Andean people to live at such altitudes. Unlike other ruminants, alpacas and llamas can graze upon thes parse, high-altitude grass with- out damaging it. Llamas carry loads to and from the fields and from one village to another. They can carry 70-to 90-pound packs up to 16 miles a day.
The hides and wool from both llamas and alpacas are used for clothing. Wool from the alpacas is sold in market towns to obtain sugar and flour and other materials that cannot be produced in the village. Dung from the animals fertilizes the high-altitude fields or when dried can be used as fuel.
The Andean people recognize that their alpacas and llamas cannot survive without human protection, and they recognize equally that humans cannot survive without the alpacas and llamas. The people and their animals share the same resources and the same weather and the same hardships of life at high altitude.
The llamas and alpacas are treated with love and respect. An Andean herder knows every llama and alpaca by sight and by name. The llamas and alpacas participate - adorned - in sacred ceremonies, so that the ceremonies may make them happy too. They join the people in appealing to Nature and the Cosmos in times of need. Special ceremonies are held in honor of the llamas and alpacas. In the llama ch'allay ceremony, for example, the llamas are given chicha (locally brewed corn beer) to thank them for all their work in carrying the harvests up the mountain. During the ceremony a small bell is rung near the llama's ear to clean its energy. When an alpaca or llama is sacrificed or killed for food, the event calls for a special ritual
The animal's feet are tied together, and it is laid upon the ground with its head in a person's lap. The person sings to the animal and strokes its head and gently feeds it coca leaves. At the appropriate moment the animal is killed swiftly. As it dies its feet are untied so that its spirit may begin its run to the sacred mountain, Apu Asungate, accompanied by prayers that Asungate may receive the spirit and send it back to be born again
The importance of ayni is sometimes lost when the Andean Cosmovision is translated into the Western world view. Some people in the West view the Cosmovision primarily as a technology for personal transformation.
This is understandable as our culture is much more into technology than it is into relationships. It also fits the Western mind set that Nature is to be harnessed, controlled, used for our benefit. When viewed that way the importance of completing the circle of ayni with Nature can be overlooked.
-Oakley E. Gordon