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The most grandiose fowl of the American Andes
Mountains is the Condor (Vultur gryphus) that belongs to the order of
Falconiforms and to the Cathartidae family (New World Vultures) whose
members are characterized by being fed almost exclusively with carrion.
The Condor is a sedentary and monogamous large fowl with certain
nocturnal habits. Its head does not have any feathers and the male is
differentiated easily from the female by its comb or caruncle that
carries on its front and part of the beak. Furthermore, the male is of
greater size and has the eye iris of yellowish brown color while that of
its mate is reddish; its vision is really extraordinary. Its beak is
stout with a sharp hook and cutting edges; it has a voluminous maw that
stands out when full. It has very strong legs and fingers but with
relatively weak blunt nails. Its youth plumage is of grayish brown color
and when adult it is generally bluish black and exhibits a white and
large down necklace and also white stains in the extremities of its
wings. An adult male can weigh about 12 kilos and measure between the
extremes of its beak and tail 1.30 meters. Its spread in flight can
reach 3.50 meters and it can fly over about 7000 meters of altitude and
in favorable climatic conditions to maintain the flight during a certain
time at about 55 Km/hour. It does not have large pectoral muscles, that
is the reason why it only moves its wings when it is necessary, that is,
when taking off, landing or in cases of emergency. Its long and broad
wings make possible flying as a glider using adroitly the air currents.
The female Condor incubates only once per year one or two white eggs
that it deposits in depressions on the almost barren rock, alternating
with the male to hatch it from 54 to 58 days. The nestling's development
is slow and it stays in the nest for about six months, still depending
on its parents for another half of a year. They will seek for food and
will help it to eat. The Condor is fed especially with carrion and very
sporadically could assault and kill recently born, injured, sick or
exhausted animals; the Condor is neither ferocious nor an aggressive
predator and has an astonishing capacity to resist hunger and thirst. It
can remain as long as one month and a half without eating conserving
always its vigor. Furthermore, it is known that this gregarious fowl can
fly hundreds of kilometers far from its place of customary residence in
search of food. It tends to eat until filled to such a point that it
suffers difficulty in taking off.
There are proofs that in captivity an Andean Condor can get to live
about 85 years and surpass the century in wild state. The Condor is
found mainly in the Andes from Venezuela and Colombia as far as Tierra
del Fuego toward the south of Chile and Argentina. Unfortunately today
it is a species in danger of extinction. It is disconcerting that in the
life of the Condor, according to tradition, its death is so peculiar. At
the end of its long life the Condor feels tired and somewhat weak, it
believes that its life does not have any sense any more, therefore, it
opts for the end preferred by its race and practiced for millennia.
Thus, the Condor decides its suicide for which it soars in flight and
tries to reach a high altitude so that it may descend straight down at
an extraordinary speed, finally getting dashed against the rocky face of
a mountain, thus giving an end to a century reign in the Andean skies.
In Inkan times, the Condor or "Apu Kuntur" was considered a very special
divinity that was supposed to join the "Hanan Pacha" with the "Kay
Pacha". Certainly it had to possess special shrines for its cult,
similar to that found today in Machupicchu. The peoples have created
through the history many legends giving to it several characteristics,
for example, tradition tells that a dead Condor fell in the courtyard of
the Cusquenian Aqllawasi or House of the Virgins of the Sun,
interpreting that as the announcement of the Tawantinsuyo's destruction.
Today, the Condor is not an important God among Andean people any more,
but it still maintains some of its "superior or divine characteristics".
Today, in some remote villages of Qosqo and Apurimac, peasants annually
celebrate what is known as " Yawar Fiesta" (Yawar = "blood" in Quechua)
or "Blood Celebration", for which it will be indispensable to capture a
live Condor using two systems: usually peasants must go to a far away
place frequented by Condors where they kill a horse, mule or any other
large animal; the body is left open in a visible spot to attract the
Condor. After some time a Condor will descend to devour the remains of
the animal, but it eats too much and becomes too heavy to soar in flight
again. Catchers take advantage of the situation and run, protected with
"ponchos" in order to catch the Condor. Another means of apprehension is
to dig a large hole in the ground that is covered with sticks and over
which remains of a dead animal are placed; when a Condor lands over the
place, someone hidden inside the hole ties its feet making possible thus
its apprehension. The Condor will be driven toward the village or
community where peasants will perform various ceremonies in its honor.
It will be very adorned and peasants will offer to it wine or rum to
drink; the fowl will probably get drunk after a while. The principal day
people will build an improvised inclosure as a ring in the village's
main square to which all the population attend. For the spectacle the
feet of the Condor should be sewn onto the loin of a bull and thus, the
two animals will be left free in the ring. When feeling its feet bound
and trying to recover its freedom, the Condor will use its powerful beak
against the bull's back. The bull will then undertake a crazy, angry
race and struggle to get rid of the Condor. The bull will not surrender
and ends up losing a massive amount of blood. At the end of about 15
minutes the peasants will stop the spectacle; the animals will be
separated and the death of the bull will not be allowed. People believe
that like this the Condor that is the connection between the sky and the
earth will remain satisfied having eaten fresh blood and meat. Next day,
peasants will have another ceremony in order to release the condor that
is carried to a nearby mountain and let go in unconditional freedom. The
next year people will have a similar ceremony and possibly they will
capture the same Condor. The "Yawar Fiesta" is developed not only in
order to honor the "Apu Kuntur" but also as a form of "revenge" that
today Andean people represented by the Condor have against the
humiliating conquest and Hispanics represented by the bull that was
imported from Spain.
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