Inti Raymi sun festival returns to Peru’s Andes with vibrant ceremony

In the heart of the Peruvian Andes, the ancient ritual of Inti Raymi returned in full colour on 24 June, as it does each year. Hundreds of actors, many of Indigenous descent, reenacted the sun festival near Cusco on Wednesday, beneath the stone ruins of Sacsayhuaman. Once a sacred site of the Inca Empire, it still draws thousands every solstice. Inti Raymi was established in the 15th century by Emperor Pachacuti to honour Inti, the Sun god and supreme deity of the Inca civilisation. Banned in the 16th century, the celebration survived underground for centuries. Today, narrated in Quechua, Spanish and English, it bridges past and present, keeping alive both Inca heritage and Andean cultural identity.