Song — first men, then women, voicing “huaylía, huaylía” over and over followed by a verse — and the sound of dancing feet wafted around Cuzco’s Plaza today. Every 25th of December the people of Cuzco who are from nearby Abancay and who belong to an Abancaíno cultural organization of residents in Cuzco dance around the Imperial city’s main square in devotion to the Holy Child Reyes, the patron saint of Abancay.
On this day, in there, the city fills with many representations of this ancient and honored dance, huaylía, also spelled waylía. Today it appears in Cuzco following the tradition of guests in the Inca capital dancing their identity and devotion for themselves and others.
