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PERU TRAVEL PLANNER
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The Inca religion
The Inca religion was easily capable of incorporating the
religious features of most subjugated regions. The setting for beliefs, idols
and oracles, more or less throughout the entire empire, had been preordained
over the previous two thousand years: a general recognition of certain creator
deities and a whole pantheon of nature-related spirits, minor deities and
demons. The customary form of worship varied a little according to the locality,
but everywhere they went the Incas (and later the Spanish) found the creator god
among other animistic spirits and concepts of power related to lightning,
thunder and rainbows. The Incas merely superimposed their variety of mystical,
yet inherently practical, elements onto those that they came across.
The main religious novelty introduced with Inca domination was their demand to
be recognized as direct descendants of the creator-god Viracocha . A claim to
divine ancestry was, to the Incas, a valid excuse for military and cultural
expansion. There was no need to destroy the huacas and oracles of subjugated
peoples; on the contrary, certain sacred sites were recognized as intrinsically
holy, as powerful places for communication with the spirit world. When ancient
shrines like Pachacamac, near Lima, were absorbed into the empire they were
simply turned over to worship on imperial terms.
The sun is the most obvious symbol of Inca belief, a chief deity and the visible
head of the state religion; Viracocha was a less direct, more ethereal, force.
The sun's role was overt, as life-giver to an agriculturally based empire, and
its cycle was intricately related to agrarian practice and annual ritual
patterns. To think of the Inca religion as essentially sun worship, though,
would be far too simplistic. There were distinct layers in Inca cosmology : the
level of creation, the astral level and the earthly dimension.
The first, highest level corresponds to Vira-cocha as the creator-god who
brought life to the world and society to mankind. Below this, on the astral
level, are the celestial gods: the sun itself, the moon and certain stars
(particularly the Pleiades, patrons of fertility). The earthly dimension,
although that of man, was no less magical, endowed with important huacas and
shrines which might take the form of unusual rocks or peaks, caves, tombs,
mummies and natural springs.
The astral level and earthly dimension were widespread bases of worship in Peru
before the Incas rose to power. The favour of the creator was the critical
factor in their claims to divine right of imperial government, and the
hierarchical structure of religious ranking also reflects the division of the
religious spheres into those that were around before, during, and after the
empire and those that only stayed as long as Inca domination lasted. At the very
top of this religio-social hierarchy was the Villac Uma, the high priest of
Cusco, usually a brother of the Sapa Inca himself. Under him were perhaps
hundreds of high priests, all nobles of royal blood who were responsible for
ceremony, temples, shrines, divination, curing and sacrifice within the realm,
and below them were the ordinary priests and chosen women. At the base of the
hierarchy, and probably the most numerous of all religious personalities, were
the curanderos , local curers practising herbal medicine and magic, and making
sacrifices to small regional huacas.
Most religious festivals were calendrically based and marked by processions,
sacrifices and dances. The Incas were aware of lunar time and the solar year,
although they generally used the blooming of a special cactus to gauge the
correct time to begin planting. Sacrifices to the gods normally consisted of
llamas, cuys or chicha - only occasionally were chosen women and other adults
killed. Once every year, however, young children were apparently sacrificed in
the most important sacred centres.
Divination was a vital role played by priests and curanderos at all levels of
the religious hierarchy. Soothsayers were expected to talk with the spirits and
often used a hallucinogenic snuff from the vilca plant to achieve a trance-like
state and communion with the other world. Everything from a crackling fire to
the glance of a lizard was seen as a potential omen, and treated as such by
making a little offering of coca leaves, coca spittle, or chicha. There were
specific problems which divination was considered particularly accurate in
solving: retrieving lost things; predicting the outcome of certain events (the
oracles were always consulted prior to important military escapades); receiving
a vision of contemporaneous yet distant happenings; and the diagnosis of
illness.
Inca Trail Peru
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Published articles and reviews about us

2009
Testimonials
Ajay
Parikh
Date:
Thu,16 Jul 2009
Hello all the folks at Peru Gateway Travel,
We had a fantastic time in Peru. We thank you all for making
our trip a success.
The only concern is that the accommodation in Cusco was below
average and we would not recommend the Emparada Plaza (?) to
anyone. Even though the staff was good, the room/bathroom,
breakfast was very bad.
Once again, thanks a lot for making our trip to your country a
memorable one. All the guides, especially Guillarmo in Lima
and Erica in Cusco, were excellent.
Kazuaki Kubo
Date:
Thu,16 Jul 2009
I want to thank
you and all of the staff of Peru Gateway Travel for the perfect
arrangement of my trip in June.
Everything was so fantastic and I was made to think about another
trip to Peru.
Sincerely, Denise Pratico
Date:
Mon, 6 Jul 2009
I am writing to let you know that we
enjoyed Peru very much. The city tour led by Marco was fantastic. We
will be happy to recommend your agency to other Americans
Jane
Date:
Mon, 6 Jul 2009
We have
completed our trip to Peru and are now back in New York City.
I want to thank you for all the arrangements you made. The
trip was wonderful and all our accommodations excellent. Thank
you for making our trip a success.
Best regards, Marcy
Date:
Mon, 6 Jul 2009
We arrived home at 4 o'clock in the
morning, very tired (we had a long lay-over in Amsterdam) but very
very happy. I am so pleased to tell you that our Peru vacation that
you planned for us was excellent! Everything was just as the
itinerary said it would be. We were very pleased with the hotels,
and the transfer people and guides were always there and everybody
was so nice and knowledgeable. We learned a lot about your very
exciting country and its history, particularly about the Quechua
culture. We will always remember the Inti Raymi festival in Cusco. I
am so glad we were able to see that. Of course Machu Picchu was also
a great highlight. And, Michael and I also very much liked Arequipa.
We didn't know much about that city, but we had a very great time
there on our free day and visited the cathedral, spent a lot of time
going through the Santa Catalina monastario and, of course, went to
the museum to see "Juanita". Beautiful architecture there too.
Really, every day was wonderful, and we would like to thank you so
much for all your efforts. Also please extend our thanks to Maria
Carmen who was so helpful on the phone and to Julia, who came to the
hotel our first night to explain many things to us and give us all
our tickets and vouchers. And perhaps you also had something to do
with our last night in Lima at the Libertador. We got a suite -- a
very big beautiful room! Thank you so much.
We wish you and your family all the best, and for sure we will be
recommending Peru Gateway Travel to our friends.
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