During any given day in La Paz, Bolivia you can walk the city streets to find hundreds of witches. Instead of flying on brooms, they’re sitting in their shops. Instead of wearing pointy hats, they’re wearing round ones. They all dress the same, though the array of items on their shelves range greatly.
The more days I walked around, the more I realized that we must have been nearly the only house that didn’t have colorful flags, dried flowers and other strange things hanging from it last month in Bolivia. I became more and more aware each time I went out that these little ladies in bowler hats and 10 layers of skirts were all witches. I had never heard of such a thing, and when I unavoidably stumbled across the witches market I was taken aback and unsure of what exactly to think. Most disturbingly about the little back-to-back shops were the hundreds of different sized llama fetuses that hung by rope from the sides and ceilings for sale. 
Graphic, I know. I stared at it for weeks in my passing-bys. ‘Peculiar’ is the most appropriate word I could find, and I needed to know more. So I asked questions and dug deeper.
The Amyara are an indigenous people group within the Andes of South America. They believe in a father sun god called Inti and a mother earth goddess called Pachamama. Herbs and flowers are given as offerings to Pachamama in return for things such as financial prosperity or good luck. The most famous of the offerings are the llama fetuses which are often burnt. They are supposed to be bought and offered to the earth during large life events. They also are believed to be needed when a new building is being constructed. Llama fetuses should be buried under the foundation of the home to bring safety to the workers and keep evil spirits away. However, the baby llamas are more so purchased by the poor population. Word on the street is that a wealthier person who is constructing a larger building will sacrifice full grown llamas. When it comes to skyscrapers and large mine offerings, humans are said to be the choice of sacrifice.
Really though? It seemed a bit far fetched at first, but the reality is that people who are involved in dark magic and live in fear of evil spirits probably don’t find it beyond meaure to offer a human scrifice. Who then? My digging through internet articles and recorded footage brought me to the elephant cemeteries. I found the following definition/description in a Culture Trip article:
“Elephant cemeteries are a type of clandestine hotel/bar where alcoholics go to drink themselves to death when they have given up on life. These miserable pits of despair are the antonym of glamorous. Most offer nothing more than a dingy unlit room with cold cement flooring, bare brick walls, and a tattered old mattress for the wretched to lie on as they slowly pass away.
Obviously illegal, elephant cemeteries trade entirely underground. Some Bolivians still dismiss them as being an urban legend – perhaps unwilling to accept the fact that such macabre places do exist in civilized society. But a 2014 report by Telemundo put any doubts to rest with shocking footage revealing their inner workings, and with interviews from those unfortunate enough to want to visit. The report states that alcoholics ask the proprietor to lock them inside until they have passed away. Those who change their mind can ring a doorbell and leave, only to end up sleeping on the hard concrete streets right outside. The police claim they’re doing everything they can to stop the proliferation of elephant cemeteries and frequently conduct raids to shut down the ones they find.”
Why the extremity of a human sacrifice for something though? What is the need for it? You’ll notice that one thing I said humans are used for are large mines. Let’s veer that way for a moment. Cerro Rico is one of the largest silver mines in the world. So many people have died in the mines that it is reffered to as “the mountain that eats men”. An average of 14 people a month used to die in the mines.
Respiratory illnesses are common, and sometimes tunnels collapse. To take precaution to try and lessen the risk of working the mines, people began to worship the devil. They call him El Tio. Since they work below the Earth they believe it is the lord of the underworld who unleashes anger and claims their lives. Several statues of El Tio exist throughout the mines for the workers to make offerings to throughout the day in return for their lives. They believe he doesn’t like to be left alone and will take turns sitting with him to share drinks and cigarettes.
Annually, on August 1st, witchdoctors come to the mine to sacrifice llamas to the devil. They are killed carefully so that their heart is still beating when removed. The heart is placed within the mine at El Tio’s feet and everyone exits the mountain while he supposedly eats it. The blood from the llamas is smeared over entrances, machines, and down the tunnels with the hope that his thirst for blood will be quenched for the year. And it is Culture Trips article on the instance that states:
“All this devil worshiping creates a unique conflict of interest. The miners are, after all, devout Catholics and regular church goers. Interestingly, they have found a way to completely separate their two contrasting beliefs. God is worshiped as the ruler of the world above while El Tio is the lord of the mines below. To adhere to this belief, El Tio is never brought out of the mine (except in the form of a dance) while anything related to Christianity is forbidden from being uttered in the underworld.”
Skeletons of humans have been found during excavations of buildings and it is further rumored that humans are taken into the mines as sacrifices. All of this stems deeper than the witches shops I walked by through the Bolivian streets. Boiled frogs, lizard oil, potions with snake heads, packaged herbs and bottled scents line the streets for buyers to influence the gods with both black and white magic (for or against someone). There are dried turtles, snakes and llamas. Idols are carved from wood and soap. Witches will tell you your fortune and preform rituals if you pay them. Spells hang on the sides of buildings in the form of rope that’s been patterned and weaved to hold broom sticks within them, and the witchery is on no decline; especially since the president himself offers sacrifices to the earth goddess.
The deeper I dig trying to understand the minds of these witches, the more I am confused…. and saddened. They are so hung up on trying to keep evil spirits away that they can’t notice that it is the evil spirits who they are welcoming and provoking. They have all been born and raised in these beliefs and practices and don’t know anything else. It is normal for them. And what makes me sad is the fact that they are mostly living in and reacting to fear.
I took it upon myself to look up a few spells. What do they use them for? Why do they consider them necessary? What I discovered is that most of the spells are used to keep evil spirits at bay. Spells range down to the smallest detail of what ritual you should preform before opening your window after the sun has gone down. Could you imagine having a fear of something to the point that you can’t open your window at night without having to light a certain amount of candles and draw a spell either in the air or with salt on the ground? While it’s many peoples reactions to push witches far from their minds and assume they are engulfed in loving evil, I am actually caught feeling remorse for them. They were born into a family that taught them rituals since childhood. Some of them use it for evil with consciencousness, but others are using it in ignorance for protection because they live in fear and actually don’t know any better.
So how do we help them, and who is brave enough to walk up on the street and share Jesus with them while among the hundreds of llama fetuses and potions? Would you be willing to treat them as a normal human who is confused and lost? I’ll be the first to admit that I struggled with this last month.
I never approached them or talked too deeply, and it has just now hit my heart and occurred to me that I should have been praying for them. Yes, it is dark. Yes, it is weird. Yes, it is witchcraft. But what if it were you, or your kids? What if you had happened to have been born into a Bolivian home where your mother was a witch and it became all you had ever known? Is it your fault at that point that you fear the spirits of the air and the only safety you know is sacrifices and burnt offerings?
And what if a missionary who knew the truth of God walked pass you on the street but never tried to tell you the good news because of the dead animals hanging from your store? It’s painful to me that the people we often are first to get and avoid are the ones who need our love and effort the most. I will never forget the depth of this lesson as it has hit me harder than ever with my exiting from Bolivia.
Witchcraft… What a cursed thing to exist.
Witchcraft… What a wonderful thing to be amidst and get to influence as a Christian.
Keep the witches in your prayers.
