Inca's+Religion

toc =Religion.= The big [|gods] of the Incas were the forces of the nature, specially the Sun, and the Moon. Other important gods were the god of the Thunder and the god of the Rainbow, as well as those of many brilliant planets. On all of them, was reigning [|Viracocha], the Creator. This one was, simultaneously, father and mother of the Sun and the Moon. They all were imagining it often as an elder of white hairs and immaculate beard. He was had by the alderman of the destination and the invisible thing; his place, in the skies, was a dark zone, the " Sack of coal ", in the Lacteal route. The Peruvian Indians were very superstitious. They were imagining that certain sites and some strange objects were lived by supernatural forces. It was producing worship to these sacred places. They worship temples, stones of slightly current forms, tombs of ascendancies, hills, sources, springs and caves. The [|quacks] were using of charms to conspire to the harmful [|spirits] and to force them to go out of the bodies of his patients. A stone with an orifice, or two branches that were growing assembled, were, between others, the magic conjurations capable of recovering. The sick person was surrendering to the singings of a magician who was removing the demons. Many treatments were done by means of the grasses, but you treat them they were attributed to the collaboration of the spirits of the plants. The Incas believed that l nature was composing an alone entity, and that the person makes ill to be treated had to be a putting in a species of communion with his own nature. The priests were studying the stars, taking a complicated calendar in which they were combining the solar and lunar times. The numerous religious holidays Incas were turning also concerning the times of the Sun and the Moon. Important part of those holidays, they were the religious sacrifices. Habitually, the Incas were sacrificing[|flames] or guinea pigs. Also, occasionally, human sacrifices were carried out in the most important temples. The Inca believed in [|reincarnation]. Those who obeyed the Inca moral code "went to live in the Sun's warmth while others spent their eternal days in the old earth". The Inca also practiced [|cranial deformation]. They achieved this wrapping tigh cloth straps around the heads of newborns in order to alter the shape of their soft skulls into a more conical form; this cranial deformation was made to distinguish social classes of the communities, with only the nobility having cranial deformation.

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 * == **__The religious orders__** ==

The high priest of Cuzco was the boss of all the priests of the empire. Generally, it was a question of a brother of the Inca. It had authority on all the[|sanctuaries] and temples, being he who was designating his priests. He was presiding also at the most important religious ceremonies. The high priestesses were chosen between the " Virgins of the Sun ". In company of the Coya, they were presiding at the festivals of the Moon, of the Sowing, etc. They were promising themselves to take a chaste life. -__Priests__. The ordinary priests were taking charge of the local temples. In the big sanctuaries there could be several of them, each of which had his mission. Between these they were figuring them of praying, executing sacrifices, to interpreted oracles and to listen to[|confessions]. In the small temples, a priest was busy with realizing all these functions. The consecrated women were nuns dedicated to giving educations to the young women chosen for " Virgins of the Sol ". The " Virgins of the Sun " were habitually daughters of principal nobles. The nuns were taking charge of his education. When they were not turning into wifes of the Inca or of his nobles, they were dedicating his lives to the service of the temple or sanctuary. Also, in turn, they could turn into nuns. The wizards were staying in the lowest position of the religious hierarchy, living through a section to the margin of the company. They were resorting to the black magic to conspire to the spiritual power and to obtain messages of them. The quacks were, often, women. They had knowledge on remedies based on grasses, but also they were resorting to the canticles and to the magic ceremonies as help when they were trying to treat some ailment.


 * == **__The Sun is God__** ==

All the Inca important cities possessed a great [|carved stone] designated with Intiuatana's name, which it was indicating the days in which the Sun was going on above to the midday. At this moment, the vertical pivot placed in the center of the stone was not projecting any shade. In the moment of the great celebration, the priest was presenting an offering while the people were singing giving thanks to God for his son Sapa Inca.


 * ==__ The Feast of the Sun. __==

During 500 years the Incas ruled in the city of Cuzco, and knew that his boss, the Sapa Inca was the sun descendant .Later, when the Incas ruled in almost every area of the Andes, all the tribes agreed that the Sapa Inca was a divine king. He wanted each tribe to built a temple dedicated to Sun God. But the main temple was in the capital, Cuzco. The inhabitants of the city celebrated a feast to workship his god, Sapa Inca. In this celebration, people prayed during all the night, and when the sun come up, they went to the center of the village with a white [|flame]. The flame received some messages that people told to him to send it to the Sapa Inca. They thought that the flame sent the message people told him to God. Then, the flame was release in the montains until his died, when the flame, finally sent his message to Sapa.


 * == **__Coca.__** ==

The Incas revered the coca plant as being [|sacred] or [|magical]. Its leaves were used in moderate amounts to lessen hunger and pain during work, but were mostly used for religious and health purposes. The messengers chewed coca leaves for extra energy to carry on their tasks as runners delivering messages throughout the empire. The coca leaf was also used during surgeries as an [|anaesthetic].