Our Lady of Urkupiña

The "Mamita de Urkupiña," from Bolivia

In Quillacollo, near Cochabamba, the Virgin of Urkupiña brings together one of Bolivia's greatest pilgrimages each August. His name is born from a Quechua word heard by a pastoral girl.

Origin and history

Tradition places the origin of devotion between the 17th and 18th centuries on the hills near Quillacollo. A pastoral girl would have seen repeated apparitions of the Virgin with the Child on a hill; when the neighbors asked where she saw her, she responded in quechua "Orko pineña" ("already on the hill"), an expression from which she derived the name "Urkupinea."

In time, devotion was consolidated as one of the greatest Bolivian pilgrimages, with promises, penance and offerings on the Calvary hill. The celebrations of August 15 unite Marian faith with Andean dances and culture; the local Church directs this piety to the sacraments and Christian life.