The return of a new sun
This winter solstice marked the year 5,522 for the Bolivian Aymara Indians. Since 2010 the Bolivian government declared Willka Kuti, the Andean new year, a national holiday. More than a thousand Aymaras participate in the new year celebration, marking their new agricultural cycle and the return of a new sun. On June 21, 2014, as the first sunlight rose, rituals, chants and offerings to the Sun and Earth were honored in the town of Tiwanaku, Bolivia and other parts of Southern Peru. Andean religious leaders carry offerings to a new years ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Andean religious leaders perform a new year ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Aymara indigenous men with a Wiphala flag, representing Andean Indians in South America, attend a new years ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Aymara indigenous musicians play flutes and drums after the first rays of sun for a new years ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Aymara men hold up their hands to the first rays of sunlight during a new years ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
People's shadows are cast on the "Door of the Sun" at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku during a new years ritual in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. The door is believed to be part of an old solar calendar. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Aymara indigenous men and women attend a new years ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Aymara indigenous men and women attend a new years ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
People hold up their hands to the first rays of sunlight during a new years ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Andean religious leaders perform a new year ritual at the ruins of the ancient civilization of Tiwanaku located in the highlands in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, early Saturday, June 21, 2014. Bolivia's Aymara Indians are celebrating the year 5,522 as well as the Southern Hemisphere's winter solstice, which marks the start of a new agricultural cycle. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
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