The name of Peru’s Inti Raymi festival comes from Quechua.
Inti Raymi means “Festival of the Sun” in Quechua, the language associated with the Inca world and still spoken by millions of people in the Andes. The festival honors Inti, the Inca sun deity, and is held in Cusco on June 24, close to the Southern Hemisphere’s winter solstice.
The modern public ceremony was established in Cusco in 1944, drawing on descriptions of the Inca festival recorded by colonial-era chroniclers. It is now a major cultural event featuring processions, costumes, music, and a staged ceremony at the archaeological site of Sacsayhuamán.
Inti Raymi is therefore not simply an unchanged Inca ritual. It is a modern reconstruction inspired by historical sources and indigenous traditions, presented as one of Cusco’s most important annual festivals.