Bolivia
Basilica of the Virgin of Copacabana
One can say that the city spins around the Virgin of Copacabana; even the Lake Titicaca is closely
linked to the figure of an Andean deity known as "Copacawana” who had some servers named
"Umantuus" (beings half man half fish). A venerated goddess for granting favors to marriage and
fertilization.
In Prehispanic era this was a "mystical" region.
Andean deities were worshiped and even today
prayers are offered to those deities in the Aymara
language by Yatri; the priests of another
civilization that occupied these lands. The Aymara.
As it has happened in many places across
America, the Catholic religion adapted a lot of of
pre-Columbian deities and customs to convert its
people to Christianity. Moreover, they built
churches and cathedrals where the temples and
places of worship were located.
Venerated by Incas & Catholics.
An Inca deity known as Copacawana becomes
the Virgin of Copacabana. A large shrine is built in
her honor in the sixteenth century, and it is named
patroness of Bolivia in 1925 being the most
venerated virgin by Bolivians and Peruvians.
The figure has indigenous features and carries a
child in her arms that gives the feeling that the
child will fall from her arms; and her clothing
shows the colors of a typical vestment of an Inca
princess.