The Andean communities in the area of Apurimac celebrate each year a corrida where the peasants fight against a bull that has a condor stitched on its back. This chimera has given rise to an indigenist interpretation that has been propagated around the world. This ceremonial supposedly represents the struggle of the Inca, symbolized by the condor, against the Spanish colonial power embodied by the bull. The logic of this narrative is discussed and confronted with the indigenous explanation of a sacrificial background. Our analysis also shows the process of the invention of a tradition by the neo-Incas who denied its autochtony. We also show a controversy that aims at the de-Indianisation of rituals so as to make them more acceptable.