As striking features of the natural environment, glaciers often play a role in the history and culture of the regions where they are found. In some places glaciers are revered: Quechua pilgrims travel into Peru’s high Andes to visit sacred glaciers during the religious Quyllurit’i festival. But in pre-enlightenment Europe, glaciers were more often viewed with fear due to the destructive forces they could unleash on local communities. The myth of the cursed glacier found in the European Alps is a good example of this sentiment.