Taita
Churo is a Quechua Indian shaman from the Imbaburu province
of Ecuador in the Andes Mountains. He is a shaman, a traditional
healer and holy man, who treats his patients with a mixture
of medicinal plants and incantations to the mountain gods of
the indigenous people, as well as invoking the Catholic faith
brought to them in post-Columbian times. Taita Churo became
a shaman forty years ago, after an illness and what he describes
as a journey to hell were the impetus for his apprenticeship.
After his mystical near-death experience, he studied medicinal
herbs and the invisible landscape of the mountain spirits. He
is both doctor and mystic, curing clients of bad luck, evil
spirits and physical illnesses.
 |
Taita
Churo's world is changing. How his role will survive in a modern
world is not immediately obvious. Many of the Quechua still go to
Taita Churo, although some are afraid of him, and some are largely
ambivalent. The modern world is bringing change to the Andes and
the Quechua must change with it. Taita Churo continues in his traditional
role but the community's needs are changing with an increasingly
modern world.
The Quechua are living in the margin between the past and the future.
The need to modernize is an ever-present force in the life of the
Quechua. As the Quechua adapt to the modern world, they are intent
on holding onto their heritage and the cosmology that has ordered
their mountain world for thousands of years.
 |
Taita Churo's son Enrique, like his father, is a shaman. Thirty-three
years old, Enrique came of age in a far different world than his
father. His shamanism reflects our changing world, incorporating
both modern medical practices such as antibiotics and injections,
while also using the traditional medicinal herbs and incantations
calling on the mountain deities that he learned from his father.
In a modern world the Quechua don't want to lose their traditional
beliefs and customs. Enrique is providing a link between the modern
world and the traditional Quechua culture.
|
