Inca ceremonies followed the Inca calendar. The seasons of
the year were very important to the Inca, because they lived off the land.
Their calendar was divided into twelve lunar months, named for important
agricultural and religious events. Since the seasons south of the equator are
reversed, the January of the Inca calendar was the equivalent of June in North
America. The calendar year began with December, which is like May in the north.
Here is a brief account of the outstanding national
ceremonies and festivals. There were many, many local festivals too. People who
could not get to a big town or to the capital for a celebration observed the
holiday at the nearest huaca. It goes without saying that whoever could get to
Cuzco did so for the joy and satisfaction a religious people have in attending
important ceremonies. December, Kapac Raymi, was the month of the Magnificent
Festival. During this month the Inca held initiation ceremonies for the sons of
the
nobility. January, Kamay, was the month of the Small Ripening. February,
Hatun Poky, was the month of the Great Ripening. March, Pakar Waray, was the
month of the Flowers and Earth Ripening.
In April, Auriwa, the month of the Dance of the Young Maize,
a white llama, brushed and groomed and covered with fine cloths and gold
ornaments, was paraded in the plaza before a large gathering. The Inca, like
many other Indian groups, had a myth about a Great Flood which had almost wiped
out mankind and all living creatures from the earth. A white llama had
survived this flood, and the
llamas that paraded in the plaza each year were
descendants of this first llama. In May, Aymuray, festivals were held all over
the Empire to celebrate the month of the Harvest. June, Intl Raymi, was the
month of the Festival of the Sun—the most important Inca ceremony. The people
believed that the Sun was holding the celebration and that the nobility were his
guests at the festival. The
emperor himself presided over this ceremony, and
every nobleman, dressed in his best and displaying all the ornaments he
possessed, came to Cuzco for it.
Professional clowns entertained the gathering and made the
people laugh. They wore masks and carried musical instruments—drums, rattles,
bells, trumpets, whistles, and flutes. These musical instruments were made of
wood, bone, reeds, shell, and metal. The clowns pranced about, pulling in
people from the audience to dance with them. Some of the dances were dignified,
however. To the sound of a great drum, which a servant carried on his back (the
drummer was usually a woman), men and women formed a single line and joined
hands. In their bright shirts, dresses, and headdresses they moved slowly
across the plaza two steps forward, one step back. Sometimes the men formed one
line and the women another, and danced together with great dignity from one end
of the plaza to the other. The emperor, of course, did not dance. He sat on a
low gold seat high up on the stone steps of the Temple of the Sun, and looked
down on his people below.
The Festival of the Sun lasted for nine days. At dawn on the
fourth day, all the Inca came out into the great plaza in front of the Temple,
stretched their arms in front of their faces, and made kissing noises as a
greeting to the Sun.
Llamas and alpacas were sacrificed, and then the emperor
stood up, holding two golden goblets filled with chicha. The goblet in his
right hand he offered to the Sun, his father. The emperor poured it into a gold
jar which was connected by tubes to the Temple. The chicha flowed through the
tubes into the Temple, giving the impression that the Sun was drinking it.
From the goblet in his left hand the emperor took a sip of
the chicha and then handed the goblet down for the nobles to sip and pass
around among themselves. This royal gesture of friendship, of drinking with his
noblemen as equals, meant a great deal to every nobleman present. Not for
another year would any of them share a drink with their emperor.
The emperor, the priests, and others of royal blood now
entered the Temple to offer gifts of silver and gold to the Sun. People of
lesser rank "-brought gifts too, but they were not permitted to enter the
Temple of the Sun. After walking up its two hundred steps, they remained
outside, and the priests carried in their offerings.
Next there were more sacrifices of black llamas and alpacas,
and then a priest cut open the first animal and examined its heart and lungs.
If these proved healthy and unmarred, and if the lungs were still full of air,
everything in the Kingdom of the Sun would be successful. If the animal was
unhealthy, the people knew that there was misfortune ahead, for somehow they
had displeased the Sun.
July, Chawa Warkis, was the month of Earth Purification.
During this month priests made sacrifices to the huaca which presided over the
irrigation system of the Cuzco valley, and similar festivals were held to honor
the huacas at the irrigation canals all over the Empire. August, Yapakis, was
the month of Everyone's Purification. Sacrifices, brought to Cuzco from the
four provinces of the Empire, honored Water, Frost, the Air, and the Sun.
September, Koya Raymi, was a dry month, and the Queen's Festival honored the
change in weather. In October, Uma Raymi, the Inca held the Festival of the
Water. The people prayed for rain, because the crops that had been sown in
August and September would fail without it.
In November, Ayamarka Raymi, there was the Festival of the
Dead. During this festival people made offerings to their dead ancestors. It is
possible that this worship of ancestors was based on a fear of the dead. The
Inca may have believed that unless they treated the shades of the dead with
respect, the shades might molest the living.
In addition to these monthly ceremonies there were many
others, which were held on special occasions, such as drought, an earthquake,
or a war. During these ceremonies everyone who was not of noble rank had to
leave Cuzco. Men and boys marched in procession through the streets, wearing
red shirts with long fringes and ornaments, great feathered headdresses, and
shell necklaces. They carried small dried green birds and white drums. At these
ceremonies the only sound was the sound of the drums; the people were silent.
Human sacrifices were offered only on these solemn
occasions, or at the coronation of a new emperor. It is said that at one
emperor's coronation two hundred children were sacrificed—boys of ten and girls
between ten and fifteen. The children were feasted before the ritual, so they
would not appear hungry before Viracocha. After two days of fasting the special
ceremony ended. There was feasting and dancing and people were gay again, confident
that Viracocha, through the intervention of the Sun, would grant them their
prayers.
