What was the name of the Inca festival of the winter solstice?

The Inca festival of the winter solstice was Inti Raymi.

Its name means “Sun Festival” in Quechua, and the celebration honored Inti, the Inca sun deity. Held around the June winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, it also marked the Inca New Year and the point when daylight began increasing again.

The main imperial ceremony took place in Cusco’s Haukaypata, the central ceremonial square. According to the chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, it was the most important festival of the Inca Empire and involved fasting, processions, music, dances, offerings, and ritual ceremonies intended to secure the Sun’s favor and a successful agricultural season.

Spanish colonial authorities suppressed the ceremony in the sixteenth century. A modern theatrical reconstruction began in Cusco in 1944 and is staged each year on June 24, especially at Sacsayhuamán. A common mix-up is the date: the astronomical solstice falls around June 21, while the modern Peruvian festival is conventionally celebrated on June 24.