After each patient had been thus treated, all the participants 

 in the ceremony did a number o{ floreciniientos, after which the 

 maestro blew perfume, aguadiente, sugar and facial powder over 

 all of us. After a final benediction, the ceremony ended. Each 

 participant was presented with his seguro, the perfume bottle 

 full of sacred herbs from las Huaringas. 



Although I afterwards spent several days at Las Huaringas 

 and bathed in the sacred Laguna Negra, I did not participate 

 directly in the second phase of the healing ceremony. Sharon 

 (1978), however, provides the following description: 



''After the opening invocation, don Florenlino approached all 

 the participants and poured a small portion of herbal remedy 

 from his sei^uro into their palms. This was imbibed through the 

 nostrils by all present... Next don Fiorentino instructed us to 

 prepare for the bath. Undressing to our underwear, we entered the 

 water, tossng offerings of silver coins and sweet limes sprinkled 

 with sugar into the lagoon. We were next instructed to w^ade 

 ashore briefly and then return to the lagoon for a quick final dip. 

 As we came out of the water for the second time, the curandero 

 blessed each of us and then instructed us to jump up and down 

 and wave our arms to get warm. Once dried, we were allowed to 



dress. 



Once dressed, each of us picked up the amulets and good luck 

 charms we had brought with us and bathed them in the lagoon. 

 Then, one by one. we took a turn before don Fiorentino for a 

 "cleansing", or rubbing with his large sword. Then an assistant 

 blew white powder over our chests, and the curer sprayed us orally 

 with liquid from his bottle of magical plants. Then each 

 participant orally sprayed perfume and sweet wine over the 

 lagoon. To end the ceremony, we brought our artifacts before the 

 curandero to be blessed in the name of the lagoon — a process that 

 consisted of invoking the lagoon, calling out our names, and then 

 orally spraying the artifacts with the herbal liquid from the 

 seguro," (Sharon 1978: 131) 



While living with don Pancho Guarnizo's family at Taleneo, 

 near Las Huaringas, I made a number of collections which may 

 partially clarify lingering questions concerning the botanical 

 identification of certain plants associated with the Huanca- 

 bamba cults. Sharon (1972: 122) draws the distinction between 

 the plethora of medicinal plants utilised by the maestro and the 

 magic plants which, although also medicinal, are endowed with 

 particular spirit powers. In the former group would be a 



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