The dreaming of Ñaupa

I don't dream the empty dreams

of lost paradises:

I dream what the dead

dreamed to be alive.

Alfredo Mires

Together and in good spirits

We were already looking forward to the beginning of February - not because of Carnival, but because the first training meeting of the Community Program was on the horizon. We imagined a special meeting, something more "for the soul", to reposition ourselves, to look inward and to start this new year with courage.

As the people responsible for the Program, it is also our task and our commitment to take care of the caregivers, that is to say, the rural coordinators who accompany the children with projectable capacities and their families in their homes and communities.

In this sense, the visit of Diana Arroyave and Jaime Roldán, from Medellín, Colombia, who are traveling through South America in their travelling house, came as a great surprise. In their project they offer pedagogical experiences in movement, sharing and learning about books, reading, writing and the development of the self through biodance.

Diana and Jaime accompanied us for a whole day - a day that was made short by how entertaining and fun it was to learn new possibilities of reading and writing. We are already looking forward to bringing all the news to the children in the Community Program and thus improving our Reading for Others skills.

At the end of the day, Diana and Jaime took us into the magical world of our inner selves - dancing, smiling and sharing through music, movement and silence.

Thank you, Diana and Jaime, for being and for being with us.

Rita Mocker

Alfredo's footprints

On 23rd February we had a virtual meeting with the teachers of our Rural Libraries in Educational Institutions. Not many people had connected, but the group was select and the conversation flowed.

In our reading circle -by those coincidences that are not coincidences- we read El libro y la madrugada - The book and the dawn (from: Esa luz de más adentro - That light from further inside), the introduction written by Alfredo Mires for Los seres del más acá- The beings from over here, in 1988. I will always be surprised by this "absent presence" of Alfredo in our lives and on our path.

Almost at the end of the meeting we asked teachers for help: to write for our social networks. We know that they, from their schools, have a lot to tell and to share.

Then, teacher Clemencia Paredes sent me a photo via WhatsApp, where they were celebrating the end of the 2023 school year with a joijona, a custom she learned in Rural Libraries. And she sent me this greeting: "Thank you, Rita, for showing us Alfredo's footsteps, to follow the route he traced in life."

A beautiful message to remember the birthday of a wonderful person.

Rita Mocker

We are still: second part

It seems that the Ñaupa has a lot to do with the mythical Andean feline. So Alfredo Mires tells us:

The myths of origin in the Andean world emphasizes the presence of the mythical feline as the "beginning of the lineage". The symbolic role of the jaguar and the puma is fundamental, also associated with lightning and the personification of "natural phenomena" (...).

In any case, looking at images of pumas or jaguars, it is not difficult to think that the character of the iconography in question coincides with the mythical feline. Although they will always be assumptions, the coincidence of eyes, "smile" and ears can give rise to the character represented.

It is obvious that, even being the puma, the character is -in general-, humanized, which would ratify the filiation and unity between nature, human community, time and deities in the religious-cultural base of the Andes.

If we follow the curvature of one of the callanas (earthenware), we could deduce the number of images that the original plate would have contained: there would be 24 characters that, with their pairs, would become 48, the 'perfect' number of the yach'aq (wise men, teachers or 'sorcerers'). When finding so many callanas in the ritual spaces, the question is whether the plates and bowls would not have contained offerings to placate the felines (a practice that is still observed today in the countryside to avoid aggression from the species).

Alfredo Mires in: El Ñaupa

Rebirths... after the storm

As farming families we celebrate the arrival of rain because it is synonymous with life. With it, hopes are reborn and, therefore, when the first drizzles begin we go out to greet them, we welcome them - there will be bread on our tables - we say.

Our grandparents teach us to take care of and respect nature and to prepare ourselves to receive the rain, and sometimes, because of carelessness, unfortunate situations occur. So it happened that, one fine day, the rain filtered through the roof of the space where we store our books, it was close to midnight; so we had to put them in a safe place despite the sleep that invaded us at that time. Questions, worries, sayings, projects were being born in the middle of the running; at times we were overcome with sadness: so many efforts had gone to waste. But we encouraged each other -when it rains everyone gets wet, after the storm comes the calm, every cloud has a silver lining. And we also reflected: it is a call to be better prepared, let us not lower our guard in the care of the dear house, the puquio books call us to read them, Qayaqpuma transmits strength, let's review our stories- and then each title inspired us.

In the middle of the night the family talked, read, messaged each other, and we confidently awaited the arrival of good volunteers to give us a little help. We lost many books, but yes, help did arrive - and the commitment to take care of this great legacy that our great comrade Alfredo Mires humbly left us, was strengthened.

Thank you, sacred water, for making these rebirths possible.

In flowers just like as in fire

The hummingbird deity in Amerindian and the winged god in universal mythology.

This is the book in which Alfredo Mires shows his extensive and meticulous research with which he practically pays homage to this fantastic, mythical and real character, the hummingbird.

In the prologue, Don Grimaldo Rengifo says that Alfredo has raised and brought to the present, the company of the legendary Nazca Hummingbird. In this book, Alfredo presents us with testimonies, stories, verses, images and even morphological details, so varied, of this marvellous being. He tells us where to find them and by what names to call them, according to the place where they lives and reign.

In this research, published in 2004 by Bibliotecas Rurales, we can discover what the quindecito, as Alfredo lovingly calls them, means for his own life and for the life of the community. It shows the presence of the winged deity, particularly the hummingbird, in American mythology. The research presents myths and other references in which the hummingbird appears as a sacred principle, as well as the role in contemporary iconography and the result of the direct observations that Alfredo himself made of the hummingbirds, in his daily contemplations. It also rescue traditions: tales, myths, legends, poetry and images, from different authors and artists, and, of course, also his own, because Alfredo always enjoyed drawing quindecitos, elaborating sketches, creating and recreating.

To learn more and to enchant us with the hummingbird, Alfredo left us a beautiful legacy: Así en las flores como en el fuego.

Reading unites us

On 16th December, as students and teachers of Sacred Heart School in Jaen, we gathered with joy to make the second reading walk a reality. It was great to share moments of reading with first grade students. The chosen site surrounded by greenery nourished our spirits and favoured concentration. We read different numbers of the Cernidas of the Rural Libraries of Cajamarca: Barro bendito, El pueblo del abuelo, Piedra adentro, Prenda querida, Empezó a andar, El pan nuestro, among other interesting Cernidas that are close to our customs inherited from our elders and that make us live, remember and not forget the essence of everything that surrounds our daily life at home, in the countryside, at school, in the neighbourhood and in the community.

Each one of us read and then invited interpretation of what was read, expressing why we read the texts of the Cernidas. With each sharing we commemorated our own experiences, we laughed at the situations that seemed funny to us - such as the one with the chilli bell pepper, of Cernida 12, which highlights the types of chilli bell pepper and one with the name "Pinchoemono" and that it stings too much and can not be eaten, being so small. We got festive with the couplet of Cernida 14 "Dicen que la trinitaria, es una bonita flor, remedio pa las muchachas, que están muriendo de amor" (They say that the trinitaria is a beautiful flower, a remedy for girls, who are dying of love). We also became reflective with the messages that made us think about our own attitudes and what we should learn to be better at - as in Cernida 20, with the title "Hagan cuenta que siempre sigo vivo" (Realise that I'm always alive) where the value of respecting, greeting, working, telling the truth, living together and sharing what we have is emphasized.

Finally, it was also an extraordinary moment to remember Alfredo Mires Ortiz, co-founder of Rural Libraries, who left us the precious legacy of reading, the rural library and other projects that open our minds and teach us to live in fraternity and learn more every day to be a better person and therefore, a better citizen.

Thank you Alfredo, your memory is nestled in our hearts.