By Catten Carter
This is the story of Mama Cocha as it was told to the first Shamans and passed onto me.
Long time ago, the land was empty, and the jungle was dark. Mama Cocha lived in the great river and on land, Viracocha walked in the dark.
Mama Cocha was busy keeping the rivers healthy, but it was a lot of hard work because there was no light.
One day Viracocha was on a long walk and ended up by the great river. He was tired and hungry, and settled down to rest. As he was resting, he saw Mama Cocha and called to her. They sat down and he told her stories from his travels in the dark land, and she taught him about the lakes, the rivers, the fish, and the great snakes that lived there.
Viracocha was taken by Mama Cocha’s beauty, so he built a great big hut near the lake so he could stay close to her. Every day he would travel the dark jungle, but he would always return, and when he did, he would tell Mama Cocha stories about the dark jungle, and she would tell him about her work in the river.
After many stories, Viracocha one day asked Mama Cocha to marry him. She liked his company a lot and said yes. Not long after, Mama Cocha gave birth to their first child, and she named her Mama Quilla. Soon after followed a son and she named him Inti.
Mama Cocha was very proud of her children. Every night Mama Quilla would get up, and she would light the jungle and rivers for her mother, and every day Inti would get up and do the same, and because their light was so strong and pure, the river was flourishing.
Viracocha still roamed the land. The land was not dark anymore, but he felt it very empty, and he was jealous of the life that flourished in Mama Coche’s rivers and of her relationship with their children.
One day he didn’t return to the hut, but instead went deep into the jungle, and there he decided to make children of his own. He built a great big fire and took clay from the ground and formed it into giants. Then he put the giants into the fire and gave them life.
He was very pleased with the giants and returned to his wife and children, but he kept them a secret. The next day he left early, to go travel with the giants, but as Inti got up to light the rivers for his mother, he saw them walk with Viracocha and told his mother.
Mama Cocha got very sad that Viracocha had betrayed her and started crying. As she cried her tears filled the rivers and it created a big flood, that washed away Viracocha’s giants.
Viracocha himself had fled to the mountains to escape the flood, and there he stayed with his shame. Eventually he disguised himself in old clothes and walked far into the jungle away from Mama Cocha, never to return to her rivers.
Mama Quilla and Inti were busy lighting the land and waters, and Mama Cocha was lonely without Viracocha.
Mama Quilla and Inti saw their mother’s loneliness and decided to help her out. They decided that she needed grandchildren to keep her company while they were busy with their work. Together they had a child, a girl, and they named her Sionapi, which means the first woman.
Sionapi would every day spend time by the river with Mama Cocha and keep her company, and Mama Quilla and Inti saw the happiness it brought her and decided to give her another grandchild. They had a boy and they named him Ayonapo, which means the first man.
During the day, Ayonapo would fish in Mama Cocha’s river, and every night Sionapi would bathe in the river, and they both would listen to her stories about the rivers, the fish that lived in them and the great snake yacumama, but that is a story for another day
Today we too bathe in the river to honor Mama Cocha, and for a whole week we fish in her rivers, just as our people have done ever since the first man and woman of the jungle were born by the Sun and the Moon.