“Reproducing Culture” Traditional Andean Birth Wisdom with Cynthia Ingar Waman
Last summer, I had the honor of walking with my sister and teacher Cynthia Ingar Waman through the Sacred Valley of Peru for the Wachakuy: Sacred Birth Way Birthkeeper Program. It was a gathering that felt to me like a Healing for the Healers and a Midwifing of the Midwives.
Midwives from all over the World came together in an energetic exchange to receive, to listen and to remember what Birth means when culture, community and the cosmos remain in connection to one another.
Before anything, I want to thank Cynthia, her lineage, her family and her devotion to living and breathing the daily practices of the spiritual cosmology of the Andes. Cynthia is not only preserving this wisdom as an Anthropologist and Sacred Birth Guardian; she is embodying it. Every time I sit with her, I learn, and I unlearn. Layers fall away, revealing how little we really need to “know” when we remember how to listen.
When I first arrived in the Sacred Valley, I carried a quiet grief along with me, this idea that traditional Andean Birth culture had been lost, as is true for many indigenous communities. Lost through colonization, modernization, the passing of elder Midwives and the push toward more biomedical training. Yet as I sat and listened to Cynthia, I began to remember that nothing sacred is ever truly lost.
What I witnessed in this moment instead was resilience, the deep, living memory of a people who have never forgotten their place between the solar plexus of the Earth and the heart of the Universe. Birth, in Andean culture, remains a fully intact Sacred Ceremony. Even when women travel from their mountain communities to clinics to give Birth, the preparation, songs, foods and prayers that surround Birth are still always carried strongly by the village.
Every man and woman knows some piece of the Midwife’s art, like how to turn a baby with a manta or poncho, what to feed a pregnant mother, what to say (and what not to say) to a woman in labor or postpartum.
Birth is a Community Responsibility, it is our most sacred offering to life itself.
These teachings have been like seeds in my heart this past year, growing slowly, reminding me that Traditional Midwifery is not something we “practice.” It is something we live.
In our conversation Cynthia said, “In anthropological terms, women are the reproducers of culture.” If Birth is the act of reproducing, then I must ask: So what are we reproducing? Through Industrialized Birth, are we reproducing a culture of love, trust and connection or a culture of fear, control and trauma?
To remember the Heart of Birth is to remember the Heart of Humanity. This conversation with Cynthia was like a key in a lock, it opened a door in me, an understanding that to be a Midwife is to tend to culture itself, to the roots of our remembering.
Birth, no matter where or how it unfolds, is the most Sacred Ceremony of Life.
Birth belongs to the family, the community, the culture, the land and to the great web of creation. So it is here, through this Great Remembering that I continue to walk my path as a Midwife of Healing.
With love,
Catalina
About Cynthia Ingar Waman
I am Cynthia Ingar Waman, born and raised by Pachamama (Mother Earth) in Peru. I am a Peruvian carrier & teacher of ancestral woman medicine & traditions, having Andean blood on both my family lines. I am a medical Anthropologist (PhD), Birth Guardian/Doula, Pregnancy-Postpartum Guardian, women’s medicine/health educator, and mother of 2 boys and 1 girl birthed at home. I am a life-long student of Andean traditional midwifery and autonomous midwifery student (AAM). I am the founder and director of Hampi Warmi Project (founded in 2008), a community-based Peruvian project created to bring intercultural reproductive health to Andean women and girls; to revitalize ancestral Woman Medicine wisdom & practices, including Andean community midwifery; and to de-colonize midwifery in Peru. I live with my family in the Sacred Valley, in Peru, where we are honored to be human Guardians to a beautiful piece of land, guarded by Apu Pachatusan.
To connect with Cynthia please visit: https://hampiwarmi.org/
Join Cynthia for the “Wachakuy Sacred Birth Way” Birthkeeper Program in Peru
A unique Birthkeeper training program in the heart of the Andes in Peruvian medicine land, where ancestral midwifery and woman wisdom is still vividly breathable. Join us in a Birth Medicine Journey into the roots of Andean ancestral indigenous midwifery with the prayer of Protecting the Sacred around pregnancy, birth and the postpartum Universe. Shared yearly in-person in January and April.
A unique Birthkeeper training program in the heart of the Andes in Peruvian medicine land, where ancestral midwifery and woman wisdom is still vividly breathable. Join us in a Birth Medicine Journey into the roots of Andean ancestral indigenous midwifery with the prayer of Protecting the Sacred around pregnancy, birth and the postpartum Universe. Shared yearly in-person in January and August.
Wachakuy (to give birth in Quechua) is an educational/ experiential/ medicine program created to accompany mothers-to-be, mothers, midwives, doulas, other birth workers and women in general interested in delving deeper on the Mysteries around Birth on their particular journeys. This Woman Medicine program is centered on the Andean sacred teachings around pregnancy, birth, and pospartum, understood as one Rite of Passage, braided with other sacred techniques and teachings.
The Sacred Birth Way program is a 45- hour program, consisting of 9 sessions, which includes conscious pregnancy/ birth preparation, birth, sacred midwifery, and postpartum teachings rooted in the Andean wisdom of the Ukhu Pacha. The program is enriched by a journey to three sacred feminine sites: Moray (Peruvian Cosmic Womb), Tipon (Mother Water Temple), and Unu Urco (Fertility Temple), where we will perform deep woman-birth medicine work and ceremony, asking permission from the start and giving thanks, as is the Andean Way.
The heart of the “Wachakuy” Initiative is supporting the experience of every woman you serve – throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum – as sacred experiences, whatever the culture she belongs to or the specific circumstances of her particular context. You will learn how to be able to hold and support this root-foundation for women.
The program is built on 2 parts: the first part centered on *Pregnancy and Birth as a Rite of Passage: Entering the Threshold of the Ukhu Pacha* and *The Universe of the Postpartum Period: Transitioning the Ukhu Pacha*. We will navigate together through this continuum.
Learn more about the Wachacuy Program here: https://hampiwarmi.org/index.php/birthkeeper-program/
Connect with Catalina:
📸 Instagram → @catalina.clark🌐 Website → catalinaclarkbirth.com👉 Email → [email protected]
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Work with Catalina:
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* Virtual Prenatal Visits
* Birth Preparation
* Birth Partner Support
* Midwife and Doula Mentorship
* Postpartum Planning
* Birth Story Integration
* Ceremonial Breathwork
Thank you for being here. It is an honor to walk this path with you. May we continue to remember these ancient and future ways together. 🤍
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