Records of the Kakana language

This record has been compiled based on the knowledge of a Kakana language recorder, Rita del Valle Cejas, whom we affectionately call Waira and whose name in Kakana is Bimma Olka (red wind) and, in Quechua, Waira Puka. She shared her knowledge of the language with us in the form of words, phrases, and songs during numerous conversations we had between 2018 and 2020.

On this occasion, we are attempting to systematize this knowledge, as we promised before her death in December 2020. This wonderful woman told us legends and stories of the Calchaquí people and invited us to explore many aspects of their culture.

The aim of this work is to make available to all interested parties those fragments of Kakán that Waira preserved in her memory. For centuries, this language was considered extinct. However, in reality, it remained hidden, and one of the places where the language was preserved was in her memory: she learned it from her grandmother (who lived in the town of Talapazo, Tucumán), although under the promise not to spread it. Fear of discrimination based on the language spoken and opposition from the church—even in the 20th and 21st centuries—are some of the explanations for this silencing.