Sacred play: an ancient contribution to contemporary play theory

ABSTRACT

This exploratory case study examined pukllay (pook-lee-eye) – directly translated as sacred play – for the purpose of widening Western understandings of play and including non-Western play paradigms in scholarly discourse. The purpose of pukllay is biopsychospiritual development and its activities infiltrate all social structures and daily living of the Q’ero people living remotely in Peru. A review of literature yielded one publication that obliquely describes this complex play type and none that studied it empirically. Data derived from interviews and field observations. Results identified three categories of pukllay and ten subtypes and corresponding cosmology, which constitute the first known written account of pujllay. The discussion suggests that neglect of diverse perspectives will delimit opportunities where play could advance the collective. A call to action challenges the reader to transform through play and to consider that our shared purpose is to be purveyors of psychospiritual growth, interrelatedness, or even illumination.

KEYWORDS:

• Sacred
• transformation
• initiation
• play classification
• indigenous
• non-Western

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Evolutionary psychologist Peter Gray (2019) analysed anthropological studies and found that most societies of hunter-gatherer people transform “essentially all of social life into play” (p. 98). However, he deduced that the purpose for the play is to mitigate domination/aggression and to promote egalitarian relations and not psychospiritual growth, as is the case for the Q’ero nation that is the focus of this paper.

2 There are various spellings for pukllay. I use Fray Diego Gonzalez Holguin’s Quechua dictionary spelling (González Holguín [1608] 1989, 293).

3 Pukllay is also exemplified through the Bolivian harvest dance festival called Pujllay (Dougherty 2014) and affiliated with ‘ritual battles … [or] supervised performances … [that] seem to have functioned as state-sponsored “games” … as rites of passage’ (Arkush and Stanish 2005, 14).

4 One of the closest comparable contemporary activities to pukllay is Reiki because during a session, the Reiki practitioner transmits energy to the patient for healing and in turn, receives energy in the giving (Zucchetti et al. 2019).

5 According to Hannah Rae who spends considerable time in the Q’ero’s villages stated on December 7, 2019 that there are approximately 3,000 Q’ero people. Rae is the Founder of Wilka Yachay, a non-profit that works and lives with the Q’ero.

6 Native Andean people use the spelling Inka rather than Inca to better reflect the word's sound as well as their right to determine their own spelling conventions (Mannheim 1991).

7 The interviews with Juan and Ivan Núñez del Prado took place December 6, 2018 and a follow up on January 22, 2019; F. Condé Huallpa was interviewed on December 11, 2018; Américo Yábar’s interview occurred on January 19, 2019; and I interviewed Elizabeth Jenkins on January 27, 2019. I asked follow up questions using electronic messaging on social media and/or text messaging.

8 Whenever possible, I quote the exact sequence of words used by the informants rather than correcting for grammar or syntax, to give the reader an opportunity to grasp the meaning/content of the interviewee’s intended messages.

9 Sami (also spelled samay) is translated literally as ‘breath’, ‘to breathe’, and ‘to rest’, and can be viewed as the ‘essence of life force’ (Wissler 2009, 45).

10 Américo Yábar and Juan Núñez del Prado were taught by the same elder who inspired Shirley McClain to write the book It’s All in the Playing (1987).

11 This data point exhibits the Q’ero’s holistic rather than binary or hierarchical ontology.

12 During some occasions, festivals, or pilgrimages such as Qolloriti, the consumption of alcohol is strictly forbidden.

13 In each of the interviews, the informant described the action of playing or play as ‘make play’ or ‘make pukllay’. I left this language unedited.

14 I intentionally use the word “transmit” to accurately describe the phenomenon when a teacher teaches, heals, and initiates a student or patient. The elder literally transmits (i.e., passes something from one to another) energy and knowledge to the student regardless of the degree to which the student/patient is aware of the transmission. The knowledge transmitted energetically is often more important, than the content of any words shared.

15 The existing Wiraqocha Temple constitutes the third and final iteration of a temple erected specifically for this pukllay.

16 Coca here refers to dried coca leaves that many indigenous people chew daily for nutrition, to curb appetite and pain, and engage in spiritual practice. Incidentally, many Andean Indians are trained to “read” coca leaves similar to how tea leaves are read in the West.

17 Authors borrow the words, “expression of life” from Løgstrup (1971, 271), which describes how the act of understanding as a “matter of creation and of giving form” (xxi) creating itself and as such, is “an expression of life” (xxi).

18 Although Don Benito Qoriwaman and Don Melchor Deza are not Q’ero, their knowledge comes from the lineage of the last Inka named Waskar.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Susan L. Ross

Susan L. Ross is an Assistant Professor and Coordinator of Recreation Therapy and Complementary and Alternative Health Practices in the Department of Public Health and Recreation at San José State University. Her primary research examines personal transformation from transdisciplinary perspectives and is the subject of her forthcoming book in 2020, The Map to Wholeness: Real-Life Stories of Crisis, Change, and Reinvention. Her current work investigates transformative travel and the integration of transformation among study abroad alumni. As a recreation therapist, she specializes in the treatment of women survivors of sexual trauma, post-traumatic stress, and adventure therapy. In partnership with indigenous elders, she leads study abroad to ancient sites where students learn traditional energy healing practices called pujillay, or sacred play.