地下の神にリャマのいけにえを　ボリビア鉱山伝統の祭り

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】南米ボリビア西部の高地にあるオルロでは毎年、鉱山労働者が集まり、「エルティオ」にいけにえをささげる儀式を行う。（写真はボリビア・オルロ郊外にあるイトス鉱山に置かれた地下の神「エルティオ」の像）
　エルティオとは、アンデス山脈中に広がる高原の地下世界をつかさどる神の名。供え物はワインにビール、コカの葉に５頭の白いリャマだ。
　エルティオはキリスト教の悪魔にも似て、堂々とした角を生やし、ヤギのような耳を持ち、口にはたいてい火の付いたたばこをくわえている。
　２月に行われたいけにえをささげる儀式で、鉱山労働者のミゲル・バルデスさん（２３）は「エルティオがおとなしく眠っているように、私たちが（鉱山で）事故に遭わないように、供え物をささげます」と語った。
　いけにえの儀式に先立ち、集まった労働者はトランペットやドラム、シンバルの音に合わせて踊り、ビールをラッパ飲みする。時に大地の女神「パチャママ」のためにビールを振りまくこともある。
　儀式は正午に始まり、ヤティリと呼ばれるアンデスのヒーラーが刃物をふるう。労働者らは器を持ってしゃがみ込み、リャマの血を受けようとする。中には、リャマの血を顔に塗る人もいる。
　選ばれた数人が、血でいっぱいになった鉢を鉱山の地下深くまで運び、エルティオの前に供える。いけにえの儀式が終わると、労働者らは用意したテーブルに並べた他の供え物に火を付け、坑道に煙が充満する前に急いで脱出する。
　この儀式は毎年２月か３月の初め、オルロで謝肉祭（カーニバル）のパレードがある前日に行われる。オルロのカーニバルはボリビア最大規模の祭りの一つで、国連教育科学文化機関（ＵＮＥＳＣＯ、ユネスコ）の無形文化遺産に登録されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/03/07-09:29）

In a dimly lit mine shaft in Bolivia, a man sharpens two knives next to a table laden with offerings: wine, beer and coca leaves. Waiting nearby are five white llamas.
The woolly animals' blood and hearts are the preferred food of El Tio (The Uncle), a horned deity Bolivian miners believe offers them protection deep in the bowels of the Earth.
Statues of El Tio -- Lord of the Underworld -- abound in mines, surrounded by offerings of alcohol and coca leaf, a stimulant the miners chew to get through the long, dark hours underground.
El Tio resembles the Christian devil, sporting fangs, goat's ears and, nearly always, a burning cigarette placed in his mouth by believers.
Once a year, miners from the Oruro region, on the high planes of western Bolivia, gather to offer sacrifices to appease El Tio.
He is, they say, a wrathful god.
We bring the offerings... so that we can sleep well at night, to not have accidents in the workplace, miner Miguel Valdez, 33, told AFP at one such sacrificial ceremony on Friday.
If we don't give him this offering, many things can happen.
- Bloody offering -
The miners also believe El Tio controls the abundance of silver, tin and zinc they extract for a living.
Valdez and hundreds of his colleagues looked on as the llamas, blindfolded and their coats decorated with pink ribbons, were pushed into the mine on a trolley to be slaughtered.
To the tune of trumpets, drums and cymbals they danced, sipping from bottles of beer and occasionally splashing some on the ground for the Earth Mother.
Luciano Alejo, a yatiri, or Andean healer, wielded his knives as miners crouched at the ready with bowls to be filled with llama blood, which some then smeared on their faces.
The hearts -- still beating -- were cut out and placed in larger containers.
A chosen few in the crowd then brought the filled vessels to the lower levels of the mine, to place them before El Tio. With a burning cigarette dangling from his sinister grin, he was dressed in colorful woollen garments and miners' boots.
After the animal sacrifice, the miners set fire to the other offerings they had gathered on large tables, then made a rapid exit as the shaft quickly filled with smoke.
The ritual is performed once a year, in February or March, on the eve of the street parade of the Oruro carnival. One of Bolivia's biggest festivals, it is listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.
The carnival resumed this year after being skipped in 2021 due to the coronavirus epidemic.