_How they made great festivities and sacrifices at the grand and solemn
feast called Hatun Raymi._
The Incas held many festivals during the year, at which they offered
great sacrifices according to their custom; but to notice them all would
require a separate volume. It is also well not to dwell long on the
sorceries and follies that were practised on these occasions; but only
to describe the feast of Hatun Raymi, which is very famous. It was kept
in many provinces, and was the principal ceremony of the whole year, and
the occasion on which the greatest number of sacrifices was offered up.
This festival was celebrated in the end of August, when the maize
harvest had been got in, as well as the potatoes, _quinuas_,[146]
_ocas_,[147] and the other seeds that they sow. They call this feast
Hatun Raymi, which in our language means “a very solemn festival”; and
in it they had to offer up thanks and praise to God, the Creator of
Heaven and Earth, whom they called, as has often been mentioned before,
Ticiviracocha, as well as to the Sun, to the Moon, and to their other
gods, for having granted them a good harvest of food for their support.
In order to celebrate this festival with greater devotion and solemnity,
it is said that they fasted for ten or twelve days, abstaining from too
much food, and from intercourse with women; drinking _chicha_ only in
the morning, which is the time when they eat, and at other times only
water; abstaining from the use of _aji_ and from carrying anything in
the mouth, and practising other usages such as were observed on these
occasions of fasting. This time of fasting being over, the people
brought to Cuzco a great number of lambs, of sheep, of doves and
_cuys_, and of other birds and beasts which were killed for the
sacrifices. Having killed a vast number, they anointed the statues and
figures of their gods, or rather devils, with the blood, as well as the
doors of the temples and oracles. After an interval, the soothsayers and
diviners looked for omens in the entrails, announcing what they
prognosticated, to which the people gave great credit.
When the sacrifice was finished, the High Priest, with the other
priests, went to the temple of the Sun; and, after reciting their
accursed psalms, they ordered the _mama conas_, or virgins, to come
forth richly dressed, with the great store of _chicha_ they had
prepared; and all those who were in the great city of Cuzco ate of the
sheep and birds which had been killed for the vain sacrifices, and drank
of that _chicha_ which was held to be sacred. It was contained in jars
of silver, out of the great numbers there were in the temple; and they
drank it out of cups of gold.
Having eaten and drunk many times, and the Inca, High Priest, and all
the rest being merry in consequence, it was still only a little after
noon. They then formed in procession, and the men began to sing, with
loud voices, the romances and chaunts which had been prepared for use at
this festival by their ancestors. The purport of them all was to give
thanks to the gods, promising to do them services for the blessings
received. To accompany the songs they had many drums of gold, some of
them encrusted with precious stones, which their women played upon, who,
together with the sacred _mama conas_, joined in the song.
In the centre of the plaza it is said that a great theatre was placed,
with steps, adorned with cloths and plumes richly embroidered with
golden beads, very large mantles of their exceedingly fine cloth, also
garnished with silver and gold work, and precious stones. On the summit
of this throne was placed the figure of Ticiviracocha, large and richly
adorned. As they held it to be the sovereign God, maker of all created
things, they gave it the highest place; and all the priests were near
it. The Inca and all the principal men and the people came to worship
it, taking off their sandals with much humility, bending their
shoulders, filling out their cheeks, and sighing towards it, thus
performing _mucha_, which is their word for worship.
Below this throne was placed the figure of the Sun, but they do not
state of what it was made, and also that of the Moon, and other figures
of idols sculptured in wood and stone. We hold it to be very certain
that neither in Jerusalem, nor in Rome, nor in Persia, nor in any other
part of the world, by any state or king of this earth, was such wealth
of gold and silver and precious stones collected together, as in this
square of Cuzco when this festival and others like it were celebrated.
For the images of the Incas, their deceased kings were brought out, each
one with its service of gold and silver. That is to say, such of them as
had been good and brave fathers of their people, generous in granting
favours, pardoners of injuries. These were canonized as saints, in their
blindness, and their bones were honoured by those who did not comprehend
that their souls were burning in hell, thinking that they were in
heaven.
It was the same with some other Orejones, or chiefs of another nation,
whom, for some cause or other, they, in their heathen minds, looked upon
as saints. They call those who were canonized in this way _Ylla_, which
signifies the body of him who did good in his lifetime. Another meaning
of _Yllapa_ is thunder and lightning. Hence the Indians call discharges
of artillery _Yllapa_, from the loud report.
The Inca and High Priest, with all the courtiers, and the great
concourse of people that came from the neighbourhood, did _mucha_ (which
means reverence and worship), to the gods arranged round the square.
They also made many offerings, such as small golden figures of idols,
sheep, women, and many other trinkets. This festival of Hatun Raymi
continued for fifteen or twenty days, during which there was much
singing and dancing, drinking bouts, and other feasting, according to
their custom. At the end of the time they finished with the sacrifices,
and put back the images of the idols into the temples, and those of the
deceased Incas into their houses.
The High Priest enjoyed that dignity during his life. He was married,
and was so respected that he vied in dignity with the Inca, and had
jurisdiction over all the oracles and temples, appointing and removing
priests. The Inca and the High Priest often played together at their
games, and these functionaries were of high lineage and had powerful
relations. The dignity was not conferred upon obscure persons, even if
they should possess great merit. All those who lived in the parts of
Cuzco which they called Hurin-Cuzco and Hanan-Cuzco, and their
descendants, were considered to be noble, although they should reside in
other parts. I remember when I was in Cuzco in the year 1550, during the
month of August, after the harvests had been got in, that a great crowd
of Indians entered the city with their wives, making much noise. They
carried their ploughs in their hands, and some stalks of maize, to make
a festival by merely singing and reciting as had been their custom at
harvest time. The _Apus_ and Priests do not consent that these heathen
festivals shall be performed in public as in former times, nor in secret
if they can prevent it. But as there are so many thousands of Indians
who have not become Christians, it is probable that these rites are
still performed in secret.
The figure of Ticiviracocha, and those of the Sun and Moon, and the
great chain of gold, besides other recorded pieces of great value, have
not been found. There is neither Indian nor Christian who knows where
they are. But although their value is great,[148] it is small when
compared with all that has been buried in Cuzco, in the places of the
oracles, and in other parts of this great empire.