9 Chichero

These wooden vessels had their origin in the keros, ritual or sumptuary objects of the Inca nobility. The keros undergo rapid formal transformations to adapt to the new social circumstances and enter the realm of popular peasant art, hermetic art, loaded with symbolism and ritual use. They are pieces elaborated by an artist of the community for its use, worked with primitive tools. The ritual uses that are given are libations. The four cardinal points (the four suyos) are greeted; grains of corn or wheat are offered to Pachamama (mother earth), and libations are also made with chicha (alcoholic beverage made from fermented corn). These vessels date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.