In the Quechuan languages of South America, a Wak'a or huaca is an object that represents something revered, typically a monument of some kind. The term Wak'a can refer to natural locations, such as immense rocks. Some Wak'as have been associated with veneration and ritual. The Quechua people traditionally believed every object has a physical presence and two kamaqin (spirits), one to create it and another to animate it. They would invoke its spirits for the object to function.
Wak'as are commonly located in nearly all regions of Peru outside the deepest parts of the Amazon basin in correlation with the regions populated by the pre-Inka and Inka early civilizations. They can be found in downtown Lima today in almost every district, the city having been built around them. Wak'as within the municipal district of Lima are typically fenced off to avoid graffiti.
A Wak'a could be built along a processional ceremonial line or route, as was done for the enactment of sacred ritual within the capital at Cusco. Such lines were referred to as siq'i. The work of Tom Zuidema and Brian Bauer (UT-Austin) explores the range of debate over their usage and significance.
These lines were laid out to express the cosmology of the culture and were sometimes aligned astronomically to various stellar risings and settings. These pertained to seasonal ceremonies and time keeping (for the purposes of agriculture and ceremony and record keeping). These ceque lines bear significant resemblance to the processional lines among the Maya (sacbe), the Chacoans, [1] and the Muisca (Suna). [2]
In the Inca (Inka) Empire, Wak'as were involved more in prominent monuments, such as the Wak'a del Sol and the Wak'a de la Luna. As stated above, they were also found along the ceque system (or siq'is lines). When talking about Wak'as in the Inka empire, it's important to understand that both the Andean people of the Andes region and the Inka shared many beliefs when it came to Wak'a ideology. Pre-empire Inka had a hard time gaining land control in their constant fights with the Andeans, and only peace was made when the Inka materialized their Wak'as into a state-controlled system that was common throughout the empire. A common system and a common cultural influence held the Inka empire together:
"It can be argued that the sacred nature of Wak'as represented the primary connection between Andean ideologies and Inca ideology. Both Andean and Inca ideologies considered Wak'as as manifestations of both the natural and the supernatural world such as springs, stones, hills and mountains, temples, caves, roads, or trees (D‟Altroy 2002:163)." [3]
The Inka believed in using the Wak'as as the main agents of sacred and supernatural structural affiliation in their culture, while also using them as political and social tools for manipulation of other cultural groups around them. In the Cusco ceque system, most, if not all, of the Wak'as facilitated communication with the supernatural world or had some connection with chthonic powers that were thought to have shaped certain aspects of the region's people. While the Inka Wak'as were mainly stationary, some of the Andean Wak'as were actually portable. There are references to Wak'as being taken into battle or being physically transported to Cusco, capital of the Inka empire. One such Wak'a is described below:
"The ninth guaca (Wak'a) was named Cugiguaman. It was a stone shaped like a falcon which Inca Yupanqui said had appeared to him in a quarry, and he ordered that it be placed on this ceque and that sacrifices be made to it."
Some Wak'as were described as shrines, monuments, or temples that were associated with religion. [4] Other Wak'as were physical aspects of the landscape, such as mountains or large boulders that still held religious and cultural significance. Since the Wak'as could have been a part of the landscape, this made it difficult for archaeologists to find and identify them. Shrines and shrine candidates were promptly photographed and compared to other known Wak'as. Interviews with local village officials helped researchers ensure that the Wak'as found on the ceques were legitimate. The location of the Wak'as aided archaeologists in determining what they were used for and what religious ceremonies may have occurred there.
Special compounds were erected at certain Wak'as where priests composed elaborate rituals and religious ceremonial culture. For instance, the ceremony of the sun was performed at Cusco (Inti Raymi). The Inka elaborated creatively on a preexisting system of religious veneration of the peoples whom they took into their empire. This exchange ensured proper compliance among conquered peoples. The Inka also transplanted and colonized whole groups of persons of Inka background (Mitmaq) with newly adopted peoples to arrange a better distribution of Inka persons throughout all of their empire in order to avoid widespread resistance. In this instance, Wak'as and pacarinas became significant centers of shared worship and a point of unification of ethnically and linguistically diverse peoples. They helped to bring unity and common citizenship to often geographically disparate peoples. Since pre-inka times the people developed a system of pilgrimages to these various shrines, prior to the introduction of Catholicism.
Two of the greatest Wak'as built by the Moche were the Wak'a del Sol and the Wak'a de la Luna. While both of these buildings were built with mud adobe bricks, many characteristics of the bricks differ between the two Wak'as. Thus, symbolizing two distinct eras in Inka architecture. The bricks varied in many ways such as dimensions, maker marks, soil composition, and mold marks. With that being said, both buildings were constructed in similar ways. Adobe bricks were laid into vertical columns adjacent to one another. Continuing to lay adobe brick columns next to one another in order to construct different sections of a building is characterized as “segmented” construction. The construction of Wak'a del Sol is determined to have used over 143 million adobe bricks and the platforms from the Luna are estimated to have required over 50 million adobe blocks. The only uniform characteristic of these adobe bricks, in regard to their dimensional shape, is that "they are wider than they are high." [5] Bricks in the same segment were relatively similar in shape and size, however, there was little symmetry between segments. Many sections of Luna show greater deviation than later columns and structures. As the Inka empire grew in strength and size, adobe bricks became increasingly ubiquitous. Many segments of Luna saw an abundance of deviation from one another. Conversely, Sol, which was built after Luna, has a more well-defined uniformity between adobe bricks used between segments. While the uniform shape of the bricks helped to signify the increasing dominance of the Inka, adobe bricks remained unique in one way. Each brick was marked by its maker on the bottom of the brick. While some markers appear more frequently than others, each symbolizes where the adobe bricks came from.
The Inca road system was the most extensive and advanced transportation system in pre-Columbian South America. It was about 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) long. The construction of the roads required a large expenditure of time and effort.
The Inca religion was a group of beliefs and rites that were related to a mythological system evolving from pre-Inca times to Inca Empire. Faith in the Tawantinsuyu was manifested in every aspect of his life, work, festivities, ceremonies, etc. They were polytheists and there were local, regional and pan-regional divinities.
The Huaca del Sol is an adobe brick pyramid built by the Moche civilization on the northern coast of what is now Peru. The pyramid is one of several ruins found near the volcanic peak of Cerro Blanco, in the coastal desert near Trujillo at the Moche Valley. The other major ruin at the site is the nearby Huaca de la Luna, a better-preserved but smaller temple.
The Sapa Inca was the monarch of the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu), as well as ruler of the earlier Kingdom of Cusco and the later Neo-Inca State. While the origins of the position are mythical and originate from the legendary foundation of the city of Cusco, it seems to have come into being historically around 1100 AD. Although the Inca believed the Sapa to be the son of Inti and often referred to him as Intip Churin or 'Son of the Sun,' the position eventually became hereditary, with son succeeding father. The principal wife of the Inca was known as the Coya or Qoya. The Sapa Inca was at the top of the social hierarchy, and played a dominant role in the political and spiritual realm.
A panaca or panaqa, or panaka was a family clan of the Sapa Inca, the kuraka or emperor of the Inca Empire. The panacas were formed by the descendants of a Sapa Inca or his wife. The basic social institution of the Incas is the ayllu. An ayllu is a group of families that descended from a common ancestor, united by culture and religion, in addition to the agricultural work, livestock and fishing of the same territory. The ayllu concept transcended into nobility, so that the royal kinship could establish a lineage, called panaca or royal house.
Huaca de la Luna is a large adobe brick structure built mainly by the Moche people of northern Peru. Along with the Huaca del Sol, the Huaca de la Luna is part of Huacas de Moche, which is the remains of an ancient Moche capital city called Cerro Blanco, by the volcanic peak of the same name.
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Capacocha or Qhapaq hucha was an important sacrificial rite among the Inca that typically involved the sacrifice of children. Children of both sexes were selected from across the Inca empire for sacrifice in capacocha ceremonies, which were performed at important shrines distributed across the empire, known as huacas, or wak'akuna.
Raqch'i (Quechua) is an Inca archaeological site in Peru located in the Cusco Region, Canchis Province, San Pedro District, near the populated place Raqch'i. It is 3480 meters above sea level and 110 kilometers from the city of Cuzco. It also known as the Temple of Wiracocha, one of its constituents. Both lie along the Vilcanota River. The site has experienced a recent increase in tourism in recent years, with 83,334 visitors to the site in 2006, up from 8,183 in 2000 and 452 in 1996.
The Lima culture was an indigenous civilization which existed in modern-day Lima, Peru during the Early Intermediate Period, extending from roughly 100 to 650. This pre-Incan culture, which overlaps with surrounding Paracas, Moche, and Nasca civilizations, was located in the desert coastal strip of Peru in the Chillon, Rimac and Lurin River valleys. It can be difficult to differentiate the Lima culture from surrounding cultures due to both its physical proximity to other, and better documented cultures, in Coastal Peru, and because it is chronologically very close, if not over lapped, by these other cultures as well. These factors all help contribute to the obscurity of the Lima culture, of which much information is still left to be learned.
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The siq'i, Quechua pronunciation:[sɛq'ɛ]) system was a series of ritual pathways leading outward from Cusco into the rest of the Inca Empire. The empire was divided into four sections called suyus. In fact, the local name for the empire was "Tawantinsuyu," meaning "four parts together." Cusco, the capital, was the center and meeting point of these four sections, which converged at Qurikancha, the temple of the sun. Cusco was split in half, Hanansaya to the north and Hurinsaya to the south, with each half containing two of the four suyus. Hanansaya contained Chinchaysuyu in the northwest and Antisuyu in the northeast while Hurinsaya contained Qullasuyu in the southeast and Kuntisuyu in the southwest. Each region contained 9 lines, except for the Kuntisuyu, which had 14 or 15. Thus a total of 41 or 42 known pathways radiated out from the Qurikancha or sun temple in Cusco, leading to shrines or wak'as of religious and ceremonial significance.
Anahuarque is a mountain in the Andes of Peru southeast of the city of Cusco, about 4,050 metres (13,287 ft) high. It is located in the Cusco Region, Cusco Province, in the districts San Sebastián and Santiago, west of the mountain Wanakawri.
Amaru Marka Wasi, Amarumarcahuasi or Amaromarcaguaci also known as hispanicized and mixed spellings , Amarumarkahuasi, Amaru Markahuasi), Salunniyuq(Salonniyoq, Salonniyuq), Salunpunku(Salonpunku), Laqu, Laq'u(Lacco, Lago), or Templo de la Luna is an archaeological site in Peru. It is situated in the Cusco Region, Cusco Province, Cusco District, north of the city of Cusco. It lies east of the archaeological site of Sacsayhuamán and south of Tambomachay and Puka Pukara, near Qenko.
The situa or citua was the health and ritual purification festival in the Inca Empire. It was held in Cusco, the capital of the empire, during the month of September on the day of the first moon after the spring equinox, which in the southern hemisphere takes place normally on September 23. It was a very important festival whose rites are well described by the early Spanish chroniclers, in particular Cristóbal de Molina, Polo de Ondegardo and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The latter witnessed situas as a child after the Spaniards had reduced them to memorials of the actual Inca festival. The situa is also mentioned by Bernabé Cobo, who copied, most probably, its text from Molina, Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and Juan de Betanzos.
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