Encyclopedia of the Incas

potential for active life (though not all matter realized this potential). Bodies of
the deceased, when properly mummified, condensed a life force similar to that of
the petrified founding ancestors. These ayllu mummies were called mallqui, a
term also meaning “a tree complete with its roots” (perhaps alluding to the
subterranean sustenance roots that provide for the visible branching tree above
ground). Typically, flexed bodies of the dead were wrapped in layers of cloth and
placed in caves, burial towers, or shaft tombs.
The most important mummies had their own shrines. In 1614, for example, the
priest Avendaño located and destroyed Libiac Concharco, the mummified
founding ancestor of the Checras region of Chancay, in the highlands of Lima.
The mummy was ensconced in a curtained shrine, wrapped in six layers of
embroidered cloth and bedecked with feathers and golden ornaments. People of
the region attributed their prosperity to Libiac Concharco, and often carried him
from place to place to receive offerings.
Mallquis were felt to be essential for the well-being of their ayllus, responsible
for seasonal rains and the health and fecundity of people, crops, and herds. Their
relationship with the living was a reciprocal one. Like living people, mummies
got hungry and thirsty and needed sustenance and care. Fields and pastures were
set aside to provide for them. Most ayllus had one or more priests who changed
the mummies’ clothing regularly and made sure they received offerings of meat,
blood, toasted maize, coca leaves, and maize beer, chicha. Llamas, guinea pigs
and, in extreme cases, children, were sacrificed to them. The priests also served
as mediums who could communicate with the mallquis, ask for their counsel in
times of crisis, and relay their advice to the ayllu (see Oracles).
People approached huacas and mallquis as they did chiefs and Inca nobility,
with a gesture of obeisance (mocha) that entailed extending the right hand,
placing the left hand on the forehead, and making a kissing sound with the lips.
Collective worship took place before harvest and sowing when ayllu members
gathered at their pacarinas, or places or origin. The priest took confessions, one-
by-one or collectively, after which the people made offerings, danced, and sang
traditional ballads recounting their ayllu’s origin story. Probably these festivals
provided a context in which origin myths might be revised and reinterpreted in
light of then-current political realities and other changing circumstances.
In 1574, the priest and chronicler Cristóbal de Molina observed a purification
festival (Citua) that took place in Cuzco at the beginning of the rainy season
(August/September). Richly adorned mummies of deceased Cuzco nobility were
placed on golden stools in the plaza in order of seniority. They were joined by