Abstract

This chapter discusses the role of stones and alasitas (miniature representations of desired objects, such as cars, houses, or money) in the "spiritual economy" built around the pilgrimage to the Virgin of Urkupiña at Calvary Hill in Quillacollo, Bolivia. The event is informed by the precolonial goddess of fertility Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the cult of the Virgin Mary, deliberately conflated in Spanish colonial efforts to convert the locals to Catholicism. During the annual fiesta of the Virgin of Urkupiña, pilgrims buy alasitas to seek Mary's blessings for their (typically materialistic) requests, dislodge stones to take home as tangible reminders to Mary and themselves in the new year, and get rid of last year's stones and miniatures. If last year's requests have remained unmet, pilgrims blame themselves, holding that alasitas will work only if one has sufficient faith and makes reasonable requests.

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