Pre-Hispanic survival in a popular religious verse from Northern Chile

Abstract

The author examines the meaning of a singular group of 19 stanzas, taken from the songs to the Virgin Mary, performed by groups of religious dances in the Norte Grande of Chile, on the occasion of their pilgrimages. All of them present, as last verse, one of enigmatic character: "keep (or achieve) the flower".  

The author discovers that behind the Virgin Mother, who is openly invoked, is hidden the concept of the indigenous deity Pacha Mama, or Mother Earth. In this particular case, the "flower" represents vegetation, and the general meaning of the invocation is a request for fertility for the new vegetation cycle (agriculture and pastures).