Skip to content

What are the bulls on Cusco rooftops?

If you’re walking around Cusco, Peru, you’ll soon notice something curious perched on the tiled rooves of houses: bulls. They’ll come in pairs. They’re usually not large, maybe twice the size of your hand. They’ll often be decorated and have cutely painted eyes. There’s usually a handle between the horns and you’ll often see them arranged around a decorated cross. They’re Pucara Bulls (Toritos de Pucará)

It’s easy to miss the Pucara Bulls in Cusco if you stay in the historical center around Plaza de Armas. Buthead up to some of the rooftop restaurants in the San Blas neighborhood (like Limbus), on the hillside overlooking the city, and you’ll spot the bulls hiding under eaves or standing proudly on the middle of a roof, not visible from the streets below. 

What are Pucara Bulls?

In the south of Peru, there is a tradition of placing a pair of Pucara Bulls on the roofs of houses and businesses to protect the family inside. Or when your Guide did the Salkantay Pass hike, Salkantay Trekking had placed Pucara Bulls above the doors of each of our glass igloos. Nobody fell off the mountain so they must’ve worked!
 
There’s a lot of symbology packed into these figurines. The handle between the horns represents the connection of marriage. The handle is also reminiscent of the double spout and bridge pottery common in the region and used in ceremonies. A hole near the back represents fertility and also allows for chicha or wine to be drunk as an offering when the bulls are placed on the roof. The wide open eyes represent human awareness of the world. The two bulls reflect the duality and symmetry of the Andean worldview. Spiral designs in the decorations represent the cyclical nature of life and existence. The long tongue sticking out is a reminder to share kind words. If you see anything in threes, that might be referring to the Holy Trinity if the family is Catholic and there’s a cross between the bulls or, if they’re not, it might be representative of Andean cosmology, which has three worlds (underworld, our world, heaven), connected in a cyclical, mirroring relationship. The markings down the front represent a traditional way of branding cattle.
 
In souvenir shops you’ll see the bulls painted with solid colors underneath the decorations, and the different colors correspond to things the owner may wish for, like fertility (green) or happiness (yellow).

At the Salkantay Trekking base camp below Salkantay Mountain (hiding amongst the clouds in the background). The Pucara Bulls are protecting the entrance to the glass igloos. The glass is covered during the day to prevent it from overheating in the sun and then cracking when the temperature plummets at sunset.

The Myth of Toritos de Pucará

The story goes that the town of Pucará was dealing with a severe drought. The rivers were dry and the wells empty. So one of the farmers decided to sacrifice a bull to Pacha Kamaq, the spirit that created the world, and husband to Pachamama (Mother Earth). Personally, I wouldn’t have done a sacrifice to Pacha Kamaq because legend has it that when he created the first man man and woman, he forgot to create food, so the first man died.

Anyhow, this farmer figures he needs to remind Pacha Kamaq they need food, so he grabs a pull and starts walking it up to the mountain top altar for a sacrifice. The bull, however, with wide eyes of awareness, figures out what’s going on and starts putting up a fight. In fighting with the farmer, the bull’s horn strikes a boulder. His horn rends a gash in the boulder and out floods a gushing stream that pours down the mountainside. There is enough water for the crops and families of Pucará and the town is saved.

Related Posts:

Tags:

1 thought on “What are the bulls on Cusco rooftops?”

  1. Pingback: Salkantay Mountain is a good mountain • The Mindful Field Guide

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *