Spirituality and the Pachamama in the Andean Aymara Worldview - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 72

Fig. 6.3 The Aymara worldview is relational, including traditional economic, socio-political and
religious practices among humans and natural beings. For example, scared places or Wak'a are
found in the mountains ( Achachila ), the grotto ( calvario ), and garden ( Sayana ). Pacha refers to
both space and time. Alax Pacha is space above Earth, it is a mysterious space where visible and
invisible energies exist; Aka Pacha is the space where we live, planet Earth as a generous mother;
Manqha Pacha is the space under the Earth, a sacred space where spirits dwell. Nayra Pacha is the
past time, Jicha Pacha is the present or actual time in which we live, work, rest, and dream; Jutir
Pacha refers to the future, a time that is only known to the Pachamama (Figure and caption adapted
from Mamani-Bernabé ( 2000 ) and Mamani and Quispe ( 2007 ) )
they become full members of the community and are accorded full rights, and
given obligations.
In the Aymara world the couple is central and constitutes the foundation of the community,
because it is not just the union of two persons to guarantee physical reproduction, it means
the recreation of the community itself. For this reason the word jaqichasiña (translated as
matrimony) indicates something more: jaqi =person, and c hasiña =to become; thus the
approximate translation would be: to become or to be constituted persons. This is the mean-
ing of matrimony seen and understood from the viewpoint of the Aymara and Quechua.
(Argandoña 1996 , p. 38)
Jaqi , in summary, is the complementarity of man and woman and implies com-
pleteness as persons. The single man or woman is jaqi but incomplete (Quispe
1995 , p. 2). These are the values associated with jaqi . Unfortunately this model is
more an ideal than reality because clearly there are contradictions between men and