BIRTH OF AN INCA CHILD AND NAMING

Among all classes of Inca people, children were very much wanted. When a woman gave birth to a child whether she was a farmer’s wife, a noble-woman or even an empress, she was helped by a midwife. Women preferred the help of a midwife who had had twins, because twins were considered a sign of a god’s favor.

During the delivery the husband remained at home. He in no way assisted the midwife, but he fasted and prayed. The moment the baby was born, the mother bathed it and herself. An Inca woman was not pampered. In a short while she was up and about, doing her household chores.

When the baby was four days old it was placed on a low cradleboard. The cradleboard stood on the floor, supported on four short legs. Two hoops were fixed to the cradleboard, and then she placed her baby upon it, tied the baby to the board with a strip of cloth and threw another shawl over the hoops of the cradle. Thus the baby was kept warm without being in danger of suffocating.

The baby, strapped to its cradleboard, went everywhere with its mother. When the baby cried she nursed it. A noblewoman also nursed her baby, but she had a servant to carry the baby for her when he wants to visit a neighbor.


A child was named a year or two after its birth. The naming day was celebrated by the baby’s family and relatives. Relatives brought gifts, and the child’s oldest uncle cut its hair and nails and offered them to the sun with a prayer that the child should be healthy and enjoy a long life. Dancing and refreshments followed.
The name chosen was a “baby name,” and he child shed it when it when he/she reached maturity.

A boy might then be named for his father or his grandfathers or for certain qualities his parents admired. There were no fixed rules for Child naming. He might be called Sinhi, which means strong or Tito which means Generous or Kosi which means happy or he might be named Puma, Hawk or Jaguar. Girls were named Star, Gold, and even Coca. The common people were satisfied with a single name, but the nobility and the royal family liked double names. Some had three names.

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The Inca Emperor

The household of the Inca emperor was, indeed, a show place, as befitted the son of a god. The palace buildings were large one-room dwellings facing spacious patios. The walls were made of stone, skillfully laid by the best craftsmen and stonemasons of the Empire.

 The palace buildings did not have furniture, but floors were covered with soft mats and rugs and the interior walls were decorated with hangings. Some of these hangings were ornamented with hammered gold and silver designs, which depicted the sun, the moon and the stars and with birds, llamas and serpents, which the Inca people considered sacred.

Since the emperor had many wives and many children, his household was very large – a town in itself. It included numerous servants: craftsmen, silversmiths, pottery makers, and weavers; priests, philosophers and poets. The priest gave the emperors advice and the philosophers and poets taught and entertained him.

The emperor saw   very few people outside of these wise men and his own family. He was too sacred a person to be seen by common Inca people. When a nobleman was given the great honor of entering the emperor’s chambers, he first had to remove his sandals and tie a heavy burden on his back. Thus barefoot and burdened, even the highest noble appeared humble before the son of the sun.

The emperor ate his meals alone, served by one of his wives. The wives also prepared his food, each one taking her turn and cooking foods the emperor especially liked. Delicacies were carried in by runners from afar – fruits from tropics, fish from coast.

No one dared touch any of the food left over on the emperor’s plate. It was destroyed because it was too sacred to be eaten by a human being, even by one of royal blood. Even the dishes he ate from, it was said, were burned on certain festive days as offering to the sun.

It was also was that the Inca emperor never wore the same garments twice.  After wearing, the finely woven shirts of vicuna wool, the feathered capes and kilts, and breechcloths were taken to a storeroom. They too were burned on festive days, as an offering to the sun.

This was what the common people believed. It may be that the garments were worn more than once, but it was good for people who had so little extra food and clothing to talk of their emperor’s extravagances. It gave them the satisfaction and pride of abundance. Certainly no one was envious of the emperor. One is not envious of a god.

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