Myths, Legends and Peruvian Stories (Mitos, Leyendas y Cuentos Peruanos)
Selections and Notes by José María Arguedas and Francisco Izquierdo Ríos
Sierra – Mitos (Mountain – Myth)
021. Origin of the Word Wanka (Origen de La Palabra Wanka)
Collected in the Province of Jauja, Department of Junín, by Nelly Valle, fifth year student at the “Miguel Grau” National School in Magdalena Nueva, Lima.
The provinces of Jauja and Huancayo were, in ancient times, covered by the waters of the Mantaro River, which, having no place to drain, covered the entire valley, forming an immense lake. It is said that in this enormous lake was a rock of great dimensions, which the local inhabitants called Wanka, and that it was visible in the first hours of dawn. On the rock there appeared a venerable old man with a feline mustache (whisker), accompanied by two mysterious people. The rock was located in what is now the Huamanmarca plaza, in the city of Huancayo.
By a well-known physical phenomenon, the waters of the lake channeled through a stream (ravine) called Chupoto, and the plain was drained; but, due to the effect of the [high] altitude, there remained the lagoons of Paka in Jauja; of Ñawinpuquio in Ahuac; of Llulluchas in Huayucachi. And legend has it that on the same site where the rock existed, the Church of the Holy Trinity of Huancayo (la Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad de Huancayo) was built, which was [later] destroyed, and its place is now occupied by the Tourist Hotel (el Hotel de Turistas). The festival of this divinity was celebrated with great pomp and solemnity by all the Wankas Indians within a ten-league radius, a festival that was attended by the greatest and noblest of society at that time.
—– VOCABULARY —–
Desaguar – (to empty) to drain; (to discharge; used with “en”) to flow into
Peña – (geology) rock; (geography) cliff, crag; (coterie) circle, group, club, fan club; (throng of people) (Spain) crowd; (music) (Southern Cone) folk club
Aurora – (time of day) dawn; (literary) (beginning) dawning
Felino – (animal) feline, cat; (with cat characteristics) feline, cat-like
Peñón – rock, crag
Ubicado – (placed) located, situated; (employed in) working
Cauce – (watercourse) riverbed, bed, channel, course; (aqueduct) channel, irrigation channel; (figurative) (way) channel, means, normal course, tack, direction
Quebrada – (geography) gorge, ravine, gully (small); (body of water) stream
Llanura – (topography) plain, prairie; (regularity) smoothness, flatness, evenness
Desecado – dried, drained
Edificar – (to erect) to build, to construct; (to uplift) to edify
Redonda – (music) whole note, semibreve; (typography) roman; round, roundtable, discussion