Death Cult Of the Incas

- 1532= tragedy and sorrow

- Incas were under control by Spain
- Pizzarro conquered the Incas
- He awards an Inca ally named Pedro who wants to marry an Inca
princess
- But Pedro has to get the marriage approved first
- Pedro asks family of daughter for permission to marry

- Patriarch= dead, mummified corpse

- Spaniards were shocked by the affect that the dead had over the
Incas
- Living and dead share a relationship
- Living treat dead like they have not died; they eat, drink and build
palaces for them
- The dead provide a guaranteed life that will be protected to those
who are living

- 3000 BC= Egyptians preserve dead bodies

- Peru has the oldest mummies
- 7000 BC in Chile is where mummification started (Peru= Birthplace)
- Peru’s climate was ideal for mummies; hot and dry, high in the
mountains
- Peruvians worshiped their ancestors before the Egyptians
- Peruvian belief= the dead never leaves the land of the living
- Egyptians belief= the souls journey past the sun
- Worship of the dead was a family affair
- Where its Piciactah= Andes (in Peru) 1100 feet above sea level with
massive rock structures with remains of buildings
- It took 9 million man days to build the Piciactah
- Human body remains and llama bones were found and thought to be
offerings to worship ancestors
- 1920s= offering pits of human figurines
- Piciactah= center for worshiping the dead

- Wary= held bodies hostage

- They did so to force people to cooperate
- Key to this practice= whoever controls the living must first control
the dead
- Chocopukio= the place that held the sacred dead (bodies were
discovered)
- Why were these people desecrated? To punish the living
- The Wary honored mummified hostages
- They believe that anguish cries of mourners are still heard in
Chocopukio
- If the people who were living lost their rights to property than they
would starve
- Wary empire declined in 1000 AD
- 100s of years later after the Wary the Incas came

- 15th century Incas= fighting force and rose to power

- Incas have a lavish ritual for the dead
- Ancestors lived in Southern Andes
- Incas had the larges empire in South America; it was as big as Roman
Empire
- Incas owe debt to Patchacutti which means “cataclysm” and “one
who transforms the world”
- Patchacutti= political genius; had a fertile and imaginative mind
- He started the cult of the Royal mummies
- Devised new religion
- Children= emperor of sun
- His motivation was to have Inca rule
- The new Religion celebrated and honored ancestors
- He made up an ancestor story to justify his conquering of the world
- Palaces were built in Cuzco for the dead and were tended by servants
- Inter Rami= Festival of Sun (Summer Solstice) this is when the dead
were marched around the city and people praised them when they
passed by (some would weep for them)
- They thought it was necessary to keep the dead alive so that their
power would go on to the living
- The dead mummies had social gatherings with other mummies and
made toasts to them
- Mummies were treated like living beings; they had to dress them
everyday feed them everyday have birthday sex with them
- Rivals would try to steal each others mummies
- Lives of the living reflected the dead; the dead held the fate of living
- They brought mummies into battle
- Asked mummies permission for everything ( marrying someone, plant
crops)
- If ancestors were not pleased with them they would suffer
- They did all of these things because they wanted to please the dead
since the mummies are believed to control the forces of nature & keep
them alive
- Believed mummies could predict the future
- 1471= Patchacutti died
- They preserved him and dressed him into a mummy and brought him
up into the Andes to be dried; than he returned to his palace

- Panaca= group that was established by Patchacutti to serve the

imperial dead; they organized estates for mummies
- Laborers grew food for mummies that were used at “events” the
mummies would attend
- Since the dead couldn't eat the food; the Panaca would get the good
stuff
- No one could inherit dead peoples land so many people began to get
poor
- Many Incas used their land to grow food for the dead
- This system removed any productive land for other living people

- 1527= Panaca thought that they were so powerful that they started
questioning the emperor
- Wascar= when he has the throne he ends the cult system
- He wanted to have the mummies buried
- He thought that the mummies were controlling things too much
- He alienated Cuzco in attempt to eliminate cults
- This split the nation and started a civil war between Wascar and
Attahulpa(brothers)
- Attahulpa took Wascar hostage and killed him
- Wascar was NOT mummified =(
- Attahulpa becomes the emperor and continued cults

- Feb. 1532- From Panama, Pizzarro comes to Peru with 168 men;
wanting gold
- The Spaniards first faced 200,000 Incan warriors and were terrified
but than realized the Incas were not that strong
- Spaniards brought small pox which ended up killing MANY Incas
- Spanish capture Attahulpa and kill his troops with guns
- The Spaniards had two things Incas didnt...Horses and Guns
- Attahulpa offers Pizzarro gold to save his life; Pizzarro gets the gold
and than kills Attahulpa (He strangles him to death)
- The Catholic church said that the worship of the dead was idolatry
- Pizzarro had to eliminate the powerful spell the ancestors had over
Incas
- Catholic church denounced the mummy cults
- When someone revealed where the ancestors were they brought the
mummies into town and burned their bodies
- After they burned the body some Incas would try to gather ashes of
ancestors and make shrines for them
- The Incas had to adopt Christian burial services but they didnt like it
- Incas became Christians; but ancient worship of ancestors wasnt
forgotten
- They had to develop a new ritual which was burying
- Some Incas would come back to rescue the dead person from being
buried
- Corpus Christi= celebration and a time to remember early customs
and ancient culture in Peru ( happens once a year)
- During this celebration groups of men carry a statue of Virgin Mary
and Catholic saints around the plaza
- Offerings are also still made to the dead and happens on “Day of the
Dead”
- Spaniards couldn't find all the mummies and so they didnt burn all
mummies
- There were mummies that were taken to Lima but than disappeared
- This includes Patchacutti