ANA CAROLINE DE LIMA

At 4,191 meters above sea level, in the Andean valleys north of Lake Titicaca, the Quechua community gathers each year for the Chaccu, an ancient Inca ritual where tradition and survival meet. Villagers join in a vast human chain, slowly guiding wild vicuñas into a corral. There, the animals are counted, gently shorn, and released.

 

They are doing the same way the Inca Empire used to do, many centuries ago, and this practice was revived to save the vicunas from extinction - and it did. By the mid-20th century, the vicuñas were on the brink of extinction. Demand for luxurious overcoats in Europe and the United States had driven numbers to fewer than 10,000, and by the 1960s, Peru’s wild population was thought to be no more than 7,000.

 

The Chaccu, once an imperial ceremony, became a lifeline. Reviving the Inca method of shearing without killing, communities turned conservation into cultural duty. In 2008, the vicuña’s status was downgraded to “least concern,” and by 2023 its Andean population reached an estimated 400,000.

For Ernestina Quispe, the Chaccu is part of daily life. She walks the puna with her adopted daughter, watching over alpacas and vicuñas, carrying a handmade loom to weave in the open fields. Each textile holds the memory of her people, connecting past and future one thread at a time.

 

Before the shearing begins, participants offer prayers for the animals’ health and ask permission to take their wool. “In the past, we sacrificed animals,” Ernestina says. “Now we use stuffed toys instead.” She smiles: “The vicuñas can hear us. When we ask God for permission, God tells them they won’t be harmed.”

 

The vicuña fleece is the most valuable natural fiber in the world and its sale brings vital income to the community. Profits are shared, helping families cover basic needs, fund local schools, and support the training of young artisans in traditional weaving techniques, but the fibers don’t stay there. The fleece is so delicate that less than a handful of companies in the world have the technology to process it. One of the most renowned companies sells one suit of vicuña for 25,000 dollars and that makes villagers wonder if what they earn in return is fair.

After the Chaccu, embraced by her brother, Ernestina wonders: “What will be the future of our village? I don’t know. But the vicuñas won’t disappear. My daughter knows what they are. Her daughter will know too. Her granddaughter will work with vicuñas, maybe earning more. Maybe people far away will know where that beautiful coat comes from. It comes from the vicuñas. It comes from us. We are one.”