Dialogue
To imagine myself living in the world of the Inca’s, I would have to travel back about 500 years ago into a beautiful society made up of more than 10 million citizens.
It was around June, after the rainy season ended in the grassy highlands of Peru, when our neighboring villages came together for a three-day festival. Our villagers, children, men, and women, have spent days preparing; they have gathered bushels of long grass (which they soaked, pounded, and then dried). The grass was then twisted and braided into cords and then woven together to form cables. The men put the cables over their shoulders and carried them to the edge of a rocky canyon, about 100 feet below them flows the Apurimac River . Our village elders chant blessings…show more content… The Inca roads were not paved, like that of the Roman roads, nor were they flattened because this empire had no wheeled transportation or any horses for that matter.However, they did use caravans of llamas to help transport materials. So, the Incas had to use messengers, which they referred to as “Chasquis” . These Chasquis would run across the empire along the trails, which was a very good distance . On certain areas of the Inca trail were houses known as “Tambos” and every certain distance a Chasquis waited for the arrival of the next messenger to continue the journey to deliver the message (oral or by quipus ) that was given to them or continued the journey of transporting bales of raw materials and/or precious fabrics. These Tambos were also a place for the messengers to get food and water, such as: dried potatoes and corn. The accuracy for these messengers were important. If the message was messed up, they were killed. Speed was also important because as a runner would approach the next runner, he would blow on a conch shell to let the runner know he was coming. There were also fruit trees along the road, near the Tambos, to ensure fresh food for the messengers. These messengers carried no weapons, so if they were attacked by a wild animal, they would have to fight by hand, run away,…show more content… They also had a temple that was dedicated to the god of creation, known as “Viracocha” . They believed that Viracocha created the stars, Earth, and all living things. It is said that they believed that he created the moon and the sun by plucking them from the island of Lake Titicaca. The other important deities were their “Earth Mother” and the spirit they called “Thunder” or “God of the Weather” . They also worshiped “Illapa” who was the god of rain, thunder, war, and lighting. The moon god, Mama Quilla, was believed to shed tears of silver and that during the lunar eclipses, she would be swallowed up by a puma . The Inca’s would pound drums and blow horns so they could stop the eclipse. The Inti Raymi festival was the largest Inca religious event they had every year (and still celebrated today) and all of the people from Cuzco would line up according to their tribe and/or lineage; dressed in their finest clothing as they would pass thanks to their creator and would feast on food that was provided by the sapa inca, the ruler of the kingdom of Cuzco and later the Emperor of the Inca Empire, and local priests
The regional administrators would pick the most beautiful women to serve the Inca religion and they were known as “acllas” . These women were chosen by the age of ten and they were not allowed to refuse. These young girls would have to study to become a priestess or a secondary wife to a noble.
