☀️Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun)

About Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun)

Inti Raymi, the "Festival of the Sun," is one of South America's largest and most spectacular celebrations, held every June 24 in Cusco, Peru. In the Inca Empire it was the most important ceremony of the year, honouring Inti, the sun god, and marking the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere — the moment the days begin to lengthen again. Tradition credits the emperor Pachacuti with establishing the festival in the 15th century, when thousands gathered to ask the sun to return and ensure good harvests.

Spanish colonial authorities banned Inti Raymi in 1535 as a pagan rite, and for four centuries it survived only in fragments. In 1944 the writer Faustino Espinoza Navarro revived it as a grand theatrical reenactment, drawing on the chronicles of the Inca historian Garcilaso de la Vega. Today hundreds of costumed performers stage the ritual in Quechua, with the Sapa Inca carried in procession from the Qorikancha temple to the Plaza de Armas and up to the ancient fortress of Sacsayhuamán, where the central ceremony unfolds before huge crowds.

Because it is tied to the June solstice, Inti Raymi always falls on June 24, the heart of Cusco's winter festival season. It has become both a proud expression of Andean identity and one of Peru's biggest tourist draws. Whether you hope to see it in person or simply love its history, the counter above shows exactly how long until the next Inti Raymi — add it to your own page to count down to the Festival of the Sun.