The Incas - Things My World History Teacher Never Told Me!

Today we visited several different key Inca sites around Cusco, Peru.  FYI - the Inca empire existed in Peru prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in the early 1500's.  

The Incas understood there was a supreme being (called Pachacamc) that created everything, and they worshipped him as such.  However, because they couldn't understand what this being looked like, they didn't know how to draw him.  As a result, they began worshipping the created things they could see - sun, stars, rain, lightening, etc.  Inca king #9 (of 14 total) reinforced worshipping the sun god as the primary god.  Additionally, the Incas worshipped Pachacamac's "wife," named Pachamama - or Mother Earth.  Here's a picture of all their gods - Pachacamac is the big shapeless blob at the top.  Other gods are shown in the rest of the pic. 

We found it interesting that the Incas realized that there is a supreme being that created all.  Unfortunately, like so many of us today, they substituted other gods whom they felt were more tangible and understandable.

Several things our tour guide shared with us caught our attention.  Many of her comments would cause us to want to learn more about the Incas, but here are some of the most memorable to us:

1.  The Incas were great engineers.  

This area in the Andes is prone to earthquakes, and much of their temples/palaces are still intact.  The Incas built earthquake-proof buildings by a) pitching in all walls by 7-13 degrees (the building stones leaned in on each other - more stable than vertical walls).  

b) building indented areas into the walls that acted as expansion joints, allowing the walls to flex during an earthquake).  These indented areas also served as shelves to place idols or mummies (more on that below!). 

c) building the walls on top of gravel, which served as a floating foundation and reduced the shaking forceps transmitted to the walls from the shaking ground.

2.  The Incas performed lots of sacrifices to Mother Earth.

Did you have a dream about a naked woman?  This meant that Mother Earth was letting you know she needed something from you - like a sacrifice.  

Black llamas were frequently sacrificed to Mother Earth (black was the color of purity), as well as other animals.  And of course, a virgin sacrifice was really special.  Young girls were taken from families and raised in special colonies to prepare them to be sacrificed.  The girls were trained that this was a privilege, so they looked forward to it (as much as one can).   The girls were sacrificed by burying them alive in the snow in the mountains.  It wasn't QUITE so horrible as it sounded - apparently the girls were essentially OD'd on coca leaves until they were unconscious, then they were covered with snow and froze.  Still pretty horrible.....

3. The Incas worship of Mother Earth continues strongly in Peru today.

When the Spaniards arrived, they destroyed all the Inca temples they could and used the stone to build Catholic Churches.  They forced the Incas to become Catholic, however the people secretly continued their original religion.  They even carved lots of Mother Earth figures into the Cusco Catholic Church choir benches as a form of rebellion (I guess the Spaniards didn't notice anything strange about all the pregnant women carved into the choir benches).  No pic on this one - no fotos allowed in the church.

Today, about 8 million people in Peru continue worshipping Mother Earth, in addition to being Catholic.  We were told they are viewed as symbiotic religions - everyone knows the people participate in both, and nobody says not to.

In case you were wondering, we were TOLD the animal sacrifices have essentially ceased, except in Bolivia.  (No more human sacrifices though, as they are illegal!)

4. The Incas mummified their kings and carried them all over so they could "participate" in religious ceremonies.  

The Incas strongly believed in life after death. People were mummified in the fetal position (sacrificial virgins were also buried in this position) - symbolizing that they would be reborn into their next life.  They were then wrapped in decorative fabrics, until they looked a bit like a giant Easter egg.  Somehow this translated into a belief that the mummified people were still alive, and so they carried them around for ceremonies, and put them on shelves in the temples (see #1 above) during the ceremonies.

In cas you were wondering what happened to all the mummies, the Spaniards burned them.  Don't waste any time looking for an Inca mummy exhibit.

And last but not least......

5.  The Incas used black guinea pigs as X-rays.

Feeling sick?  They would take a black (pure) guinea pig and wave it all over around you.  Then they would cut open the guinea pig and see what was wrong with it.  Whatever they found wrong inside the pig was determined to also be wrong with you. 

We have more Inca stuff to learn in the next couple days, so stay tuned!

For those of you wondering what ever happened to our Amazon travels - they did happen (it was wonderful!).  The fotos however are on the wrong camera for blogging, so we will post about that as soon as we get home.