Ancestral Rituals Heritage as Community-Based Tourism—Case of the Ecuadorian Andes

Abstract

This research aims to describe aguacolla’s ancestral ritual in a local community in Ecuador, determining the use of ancestral medicine, the healing process, its sociological antecedents, diagnosis and treatments. A micro-ethnographic design was carried out in the local community with total involvement in the ritualistic process for 20 days, where, in addition to collecting data through participant observation and interviews, a video production of the ritual was generated. As a result, the involvement of religious and cultural syncretism in the ceremony, acceptance of the locals and strengthening of their identity by including symbolisms of the area, the different categories of ancestral medicine were analyzed: wachakhampiYachak for pregnant women and children, yurakhampiYachak for headaches and fever, KakuyampiYachak for bones and rikuyhampiYachak for supernatural diseases. Concluding, the healing experience produced by the “aguacolla” shows that in addition to the healing spectrum, there is also a touristic, historical and patrimonial repercussion in the ceremonies.