Andacollo

This article is about a location in Chile. A place of the same name is in Argentina, Andacollo (Neuquén) .

Andacollo

Andacollo is a place of pilgrimage in the South American Andean state of Chile , about 50 km southeast of La Serena / Coquimbo at an altitude of 1053 m above sea level. It belongs to the Región de Coquimbo (Region IV), Province of Elqui. The population is 10,288 (as of 2002). The word Andacollo comes from the Quechua "anta-colla", which means "queen of copper".

The place of pilgrimage

In Andacollo the image of the Virgen del Rosario de Andacollo ( Virgin of the Rosary of Andacollo) is venerated. In front of a statue of the Madonna from 1676, the believers present their intercessions to Our Lady. Twice a year, thousands upon thousands of pilgrims come on the occasion of the two pilgrimages, the Fiesta Chica and the Fiesta Grande .

History of the city of Andacollo

View of Andacollo

Historical view of Andacollo (with dancers), 1838.

The history of Andacollo is that of its virgin and its copper and gold deposits. The place existed before the arrival of the conquistadors . Since the middle of the 15th century the Incas have been exploiting the mineral resources of the Coquimbo, Andacollo and Marga Marga zones . On the orders of Pedro de Valdivia , the captain Juan Bohón founded the city of La Serena in 1544. Four years later, the Indians of Copiapó rose , destroyed La Serena and killed all but two of the Spaniards. Captain Francisco de Aguirre rebuilt the city and conquered the neighboring valleys.

The discovery of the miraculous image of the Virgin of Andacollo

The oldest written version of the tradition of the event is that of the priest Juan Ramón Ramírez. Accordingly, an Indian miner, accompanied by some relatives, was looking for firewood in the mountains. When he pulled a large piece of wood aside, a small, barely worked statue made of wood with dark skin and a lovely face appeared half-hidden.

Another tradition adorns the find in an etiology of the place name:

“That night, an old Indian named Collo had a heavy dream, the kind one has when one works all day without a break in his master's field. He noticed that the tunnel was slowly getting lighter and that the light was increasing in intensity. The brightest point in that light phenomenon changed and took on a solid shape so that it began to look like a floating object, a tangible thing. Thereupon the Indian heard clearly and distinctly a vague but understandable voice: “There is great wealth just a few steps away from you; look between the tallest rocks that are in the plain that extends over your head. Anda, collo! ”(In German: Go, Collo!) The voice disappeared and the light went out. The next night the vision reappeared, and the same voice said: “The riches will be yours: Anda, anda, Collo!” Extremely worried, he reported to his master what he had heard and seen. Unlike the locals, however, the Spaniard was by no means moved by the wonderful thing that had happened, but only heard the message as a promise of quick fortune. He said to his servant: “Go and discover this treasure, but if you come back empty-handed, I will have to cut off your ears”. So Collo went off. A short time later he came back and carried in his arms the wooden bust of a roughly carved virgin. "

According to tradition, this is the origin of the worship of the Virgin of Andacollo.

The image of the Virgin of Andacollo

Portrait of the Virgin of Andacollo

The original representation of the Virgin mentioned in the first accounts is not the one that can be seen in Andacollo today. She disappeared under unexplained circumstances. The chapel built after the find was thereupon consecrated to the Archangel Michael instead.

But then Bernardino Álvarez de Tobar, pastor of Andacollo from 1668 to 1706, collected for a figure of Mary. 24 pesos came together. At the beginning of 1676, the image of the saint ordered in Lima arrived in Andacollo. The Virgin of Andacollo was consecrated on the first Sunday in October 1676.

Churches

Apart from the simple hut that shielded the first figure, the devotion to Mary led to the construction of four churches in Andacollo:

• At the end of the 16th century, Pastor Juan Gaytán de Mendoza built a chapel.
• After the installation of the second icon in 1676, Pastor Bernardino Álvarez de Tobar built a church.
• A third, larger church was built on the initiative of Manuel de Alday y Axpée, Bishop of Santiago from 1753 to 1788 .
• Today's large basilica , inaugurated on December 25, 1893, is the work of Bishop José Manuel Orrego Pizarro of La Serena and his successor Florencio Fontecilla Sánchez. The plans were made by the Italian architect Eusebio Chelli.

Miracle and grace of the Virgin of Andacollo

The miracles of the Virgin of Andacollo are known throughout Chile and neighboring countries. In Chile they say: "If one were to write down all the graces granted by the Virgin of Andacollo and the Infant Jesus of Sotaqui, it would fill an entire book." As early as 1748, a chronicler wrote on the occasion of a visit by Manuel de Alday y Axpée, Bishop of Santiago: "This exalted virgin justifies her noble assistance and the trust that is placed in her by remarkable, frequent miracles." Juan Ramón Ramírez reports miracles that happened to a woman named Rosa Galleguillos on December 26, 1860 when the hitherto paralyzed woman threw away her crutches in front of numerous witnesses and walked steadily with the procession in honor of the Virgin of Andacollo. In 1871, Andacollo suffered the scourge of smallpox , which claimed more than 30 victims in a few days. The people asked the pastor to carry the devotional image of the Virgin through the streets of Andacollo. So it was, and the plague stopped.

In the magazines "Estrella de Andacollo", founded in 1906, and in "Nuestra Señora de Andacollo", founded in 1921, many Marian miracles are described to believers and dancers.

The dances

Dances in honor of the Virgin of Andacollo

The dances that will be performed in Andacollo for three days (December 24th, 25th and 26th) are the main attraction of the festival. There are three types of dance: "chinos", "turbantes" and "danzantes".

The old Andacollo dance “chino” is without a doubt the most exotic and interesting. Miners dance depicting the Indians who worship the Virgin. His strange and wild choreography has no parallel among European folk dances. The dance begins with a series of athletic jumps from the crouching position. The dancers jump first on one leg, then on the other. You can see them in rapid succession, sometimes high in the air, sometimes stooped on the ground. They dance for hours and hours without rest, they do not even stop to drink, because the Virgo gives them the necessary powers.

The dancers dress in one of the colors of the mountains in the north of Chile: brown, sulfur yellow, purple or pink. Large, imaginatively designed cloths cover the back. A “Viva la Virgen” (“Long live the virgin!”), The name of the dancer, birds or flowers are embroidered on the shirt. The wide belt is adorned with blue, green, and red pearls; on it hang pieces of leather with small mirrors and stones in bright colors. The pants are decorated with laces and sequins. The oldest dancers dress in velvet skirts and trousers. Some dancers wear hoods or embroidered hats.

tourism

In addition to the main attraction, the pilgrimage church, small gold panning shops near the city are a popular tourist destination.

The Monumento Natural Pichasca is located 20 km southeast of Andacollo. There are fossilized plants here that are around 70 million years old. There are also finds of human settlement that are around 10,000 years old.

literature

• Principio Albás: Historia de la imagen y el santuario de Ntra. Sra. del Rosario de Andacollo . Editorial Padres Misioneros del Corazon de Maria, Capellanes del Santuario. Santiago de Chile, 2nd edition 1943.
• Manuel Concha: Tradiciones serenenses . Editorial Nascimento, Santiago de Chile 1975 (first edition: Santiago de Chile 1883).
• Jorge José Falch Frey: Fundación y primer florecimiento de la Cofradía de Nuestra Madre Santísima del Rosario de Andacollo . In: Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia en Chile . ISSN  0716-1662 . Vol. 11 (1993), pp. 149-176.
• Ricardo Latcham: Fiesta de Andacollo i sus danzas . In: Revista de la Sociedad de Folklore Chileno , born 1910. pp. 195-219.
• Hilda López Aguilar: La Chinita de Andacollo, Reina de la Montaña . Ediciones del Cacto, Santiago de Chile 1995. ISBN 956-272-113-2 .
• César Quiroga, Cecilia Inés Quiroga: El culto de la Virgen de Andacollo en el nuevo culto . In: Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia en Chile . ISSN  0716-1662 . Vol. 21 (2003), pp. 167-175.
• Roberto Páez Constenla: Promeseros trasandinos en el Santuario Mariano de Andacollo, Norte Chico de Chile (siglos XIX-XX) . In: Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia en Chile . ISSN  0716-1662 . Vol. 24 (2006), pp. 145-150.
• Juan Ramón Ramirez: Historia de Nuestra Señora de Andacollo . Imprenta Victoria, Santiago de Chile 1855.
• Juan Ramón Ramírez: La vírjen de Andacollo. Reseña histórica de todo lo que se relaciona con la milagrosa imájen que se venera en aquel pueblo . Imprenta El correo del Sábado, La Serena 1873.
• Juan Uribe-Echevarría: La Virgen de Andacollo y el Niño Dios de Sotaquí . Ediciones Universitarias de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 1974.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Juan Ramón Ramirez: Historia de Nuestra Señora de Andacollo . Imprenta Victoria, Santiago de Chile 1855.
2. ↑ Manuel Concha: Tradiciones serenenses . Editorial Nascimento, Santiago de Chile 1975.
3. ^ Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Andacollo , accessed December 3, 2013.
4. Jump up ↑ Jorge José Falch Frey: Fundación y primer florecimiento de la Cofradía de Nuestra Madre Santísima del Rosario de Andacollo . In: Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia en Chile . ISSN  0716-1662 . Vol. 11 (1993), pp. 149-176, here p. 152.
5. ↑ Juan Uribe-Echevarría: La Virgen de Andacollo y el Niño Dios de Sotaquí . Ediciones Universitarias de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 1974. p. 50.
6. ↑ Hilda López Aguilar: La Chinita de Andacollo, Reina de la Montaña . Ediciones del Cacto, Santiago de Chile 1995. p. 10.
7. ↑ Centro Nacional de Conservación y Restauración (ed.): Materia y alma. Conservación del patrimonio religioso en los valles de Elquí y Limarí . Edición Centro Nacional de Conservación y Restauración, Santiago de Chile 2006. p. 38.
8. ↑ Juan Uribe-Echevarría: La Virgen de Andacollo y el Niño Dios de Sotaquí . Ediciones Universitarias de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 1974. p. 145.
9. ↑ Principio Albás: Historia de la imagen y el santuario de Ntra. Sra. del Rosario de Andacollo . Editorial Padres Misioneros del Corazon de Maria, Capellanes del Santuario. Santiago de Chile, 2nd edition 1943. p. 241.
10. ↑ Juan Ramón Ramírez: La vírjen de Andacollo. Reseña histórica de todo lo que se relaciona con la milagrosa imájen que se venera en aquel pueblo . Imprenta El correo del Sábado, La Serena 1873.
11. ^ Ricardo Latcham: Fiesta de Andacollo i sus danzas . In: Revista de la Sociedad de Folklore Chileno , Jg. 1910. pp. 195-219, here pp. 214-219.
12. ↑ Roberto Páez Constenla: Promeseros trasandinos en el Santuario Mariano de Andacollo, Norte Chico de Chile (siglos XIX-XX) . In: Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia en Chile . ISSN  0716-1662 . Vol. 24 (2006), pp. 145–150, here p. 147.

Web links

Commons : Andacollo, Chile  - Collection of images

Coordinates: 30 ° 14 ′  S , 71 ° 5 ′  W