In full transparency, I thought "Mother Earth" was just a term we used to refer to the Earth! Come to find out, Mother Earth is a goddess celebrated during la Ceremonia del Pago a la Tierra, or the Ceremony of the Payment to the Earth, throughout the Andean highlands of South America.
One of my students told me about how her family celebrates the Ceremony of the Payment to the Earth. People who live off the land stop working so that the land can rest, and people make offerings and pray on different mountaintops. This tradition occurs every August 1st, before winter ends and the season of planting crops begins.
The indigenous community has this tradition to honor Pachamama, or Mother Earth, a goddess who has the power to bless all that the Earth has to offer.
The Ceremony of the Payment to the Earth is connected to the world, nature, and especially to the mountains that characterize the environment of the Andean highlands. People climb up the mountains to become closer to Pachamama as they perform this celebration.
