The Religions Book

37

See also: Making sense of the world 20–23 ■ Created for a purpose 32 ■ Sacrifice and blood offerings 40–45 ■ Devotion
through puja 114–15

PRIMAL BELIEFS

People of the mountains
Since before recorded time, Andean
peoples have organized themselves
into ayllus, extended family groups
or clans, each attached to a specific
territory. Within these groups, they
worked the land, shared resources,
and worshipped at their huacas, or
animistic earth shrines. The focus
of worship was to pray to the earth
to feed them—vital assistance in a
mountainous region where farming
was a harsh and laborious process.
Running parallel to their entreaties
to the earth was a belief that, just
as the land had nurtured their
ancestors, it would, with the
intercession of those departed
spirits, continue to nourish them.
Each ayllu mummified and
worshipped the bodies of its dead,
believing that the ancestors would
help maintain the cosmic order and
ensure the fertility of the land
and the animals. The bodies were
wrapped in weavings and placed
in rock mummy shrines (chullpa
machulas) facing the mountaintop.
Once desiccated by the freezing,
dry air, the mummies would be

paraded around the fields during

rituals to make the crops grow.

Meanwhile, priests or diviners

at the huacas and grave shrines

offered up coca leaves, blood, and

fat, believing that if the spirits of the

land and the ancestors were fed,

they would in turn feed the people.

An enduring power

In the 17th century, Christian

missionaries burned many Andean

mummies to quash what they saw

as pagan beliefs. However, some

mummies have survived, and the

modern Quechua believe them to

be the first beings or ancient ones.

The chullpa machulas, now just

niches in the rocks, remain sacred

shrines at which contemporary

diviners still sprinkle blood and fat,

believing this to infuse the sites

with life and energy. Some groups,

such as the Qollahuayos Indians

(see box, below) may burn coca

leaves there, wrapped in bundles of

llama wool. The graves are believed

to retain their power, even without

the mummies that once occupied

them. The Feast of the Dead, on

November 2—marking the end of

the dry season and the beginning

of the rains, when crops can be

planted—remains a focus of the

Andean year, when the dead are

ritually invited to revisit the living,

and to take a share of the harvest. ■

An Inca mummy of a girl who died

five hundred years ago is still preserved;

the ancestors are revered and have a

central role among Andean peoples.

A mountain and a god

The Kaata of modern Bolivia,

who live northeast of Lake

Titicaca, form one of nine ayllus

of the Qollahuayas Indians.

The Kaata have a historic

reputation as fortune-telling

soothsayers; in the 15th century,

Kaatan diviners carried the

chair of the Inca emperor, an

honored task. The power of

these Qollahuaya ritualists

was thought to derive from the

graves of their ancestors on

Mount Kaata. In addition to

the ancestral graves on the

mountain, Mount Kaata itself

is venerated as if it were a

human being—a kind of super-

ancestor—and is also ascribed

physical human attributes. The

highlands are regarded as the

head, with grasses as hair, a

cave for a mouth, and lakes for

eyes; the middle region is the

torso, with heart and bowels

identified; and a pair of ridges

on the lowest reaches are the

legs. The mountain is a living

being that gives the Kaata both

sustenance and guidance.

The dead visit us

and assist us in

our work. They provide

many blessings.

Marcelino,

Kaatan elder