Street theatricality in colonial Cuzco

Abstract

In Cuzco, major theatrical performances take place in the street. Elements may still be identified of a system of symbols representing scenes of a mythical and historic past manifest, e.g., in various categories of idealized space in the city of Cuzco in the form of imaginary lines (ceques) linking sacred places and laying out social and territorial references. Time was so intensely felt to be one with humanized space that performances took place in such a context; the routes followed by pilgrimages, processions, and parades were not only sacred but wove space and time into a tissue of feeling that fed a mythical imaginarium and helped to consolidate the identity of the region during the period.