My Notes on the Use of Animal Fat in Andean Medicine and Ritual
{Image excerpted from Figure 6 ("Ritual objects used in the different agro-pastoral ceremonies in the community of Ventilla"), in Symbolic Garments of Camelids and Agro-pastoral Rites in the South of Bolivia (2003) by Lecoq & Fidel}
Animal fat has many uses in the Andes. From acting as a base to make infused salves, to cooking traditional fat-fried dishes, being used by itself on the skin for medicinal purposes, or even being consumed alone. The most often heard of is untu, llama fat or tallow, but other species are also used: everything from domestic alpacas to wild jaguars. The most commonly used, and often found in markets, are different kinds of llama, venomous snake and small serpents and iguana or lizard: all these have been scientifically proven to have wound-healing and antiinflammatory properties of their own. In the cities, and whenever livestock or wild animals aren't available to us, these have often been swapped for the more readily available cow, sheep or pig fat.
When asked about the origins of this practice, the most common answer from our elders is that fat has been used medicinally since ancient times due to the simple observation that these animals feed from the medicinal plants of the wild fields, at high altitudes and among sacred sites, and our elders believe these medicinal and holy properties consumed are then acquired by the animal, to different extents and to different locations in their bodies, depending on the species. In particular, black llamas are the most preferred for healing work, not just their fat, but their naturally dark wool is often also sought.
A very ancient method to prepare medicinal salves with fat that is still used by Elders in some rural areas of the Andes requires a fire, and a big stone with a "wide opening", deep enough to act as a vessel and place the fat mixed with infused oil or herbal powder in the center of the fire. Once the fire goes out, the salve is naturally cooled in nature and scraped off the rock easily.
There's "dry" and "wet" fats. The "wet" fat is simply that as it is obtained from the animal, often used right away and after the animal is sacrificed as part of a ritual feast. The "dry" fat is preserved: the traditional method involves making a flat sheet of fat combined with some drying powder (ash, flour or mineral powders) upon a flat stone, and leaving it to dry completely before scraping it off the stone surface and powdering it again on a mortar and pestle, then storing it for later use. This preserved dry fat can equally be rehydrated for use, or used dry. If the ash comes from medicinal plants, this fat is thought to carry the plant's medicinal properties added to it's own, and can be used rubbed on the skin, for example. If combined with flour, it could be used for cooking or ritual purposes. In some cases, it's combined with white clay, red clay, or other mineral powders, to make exclusively ritual mixtures.
In ritual, the fat, alone or mixed with special powders, can serve as an offering, in it's natural shapes or molded into the form of whatever we wish to attract in our lives. It is also often used to enliven tools, artifacts and other offerings. Some illas (ritual artefacts in the shape of animals, kept for the honoring of livestock and as part of annual agricultural rites) have holes in their little backs, meant to be ritually filled with untu at least once a year. And although in modern times it is quite frowned upon, secret fat mixtures have also been used to make dolls and puppets used to send harm. Oral history tells us that when the spanish first brought over pigs as livestock, our ancestors noticed "a similarity in both skin tone and behavior to the animals" and started using pig fat to make puppets representing them, to keep away the conquistadors and colonizers, and to retaliate for the harm they've caused us.
One last but important teaching tells us that not every fat can, or should, be combined with every herbal or mineral ally. The chosen allies to be infused into the fat must harmoniously accompany it's natural spirit. The animal's traits, lore and medicine must be taken into consideration, aswell as the natural qualities of it's fat (color, taste, scent) to determine which herbal or mineral allies pair well with it, and which musn't be used.
