Why do the Indians throw out their old shoes and give their eyelashes to the sun and storms, how do they fight the disease of dancing and calm the fire, and in what cases it makes sense to turn to sorcerers.
In 1567, the Spanish colonial official and chronicler Juan Polo de Ondegardo i Zarate, who worked in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, compiled a memo for missionaries who will live among the Indians of Latin America - "Instruction on the fight against ceremonies and rituals used by Indians since the time of their godlessness ”, where he described the beliefs and customs of the inhabitants of the New World known to him. Arzamas publishes excerpts from this work.
What do the Indians worship
Almost all Indians worship waks, idols, gorges, rocks or huge stones, hills, mountain peaks, springs, springs and, finally, any thing in nature that seems remarkable and different from the rest. They also tend to worship the sun, moon, stars, morning and evening dawn, the Pleiades and other stars. Also, the dead or their graves - both ancestors and Indians who have already become Christians. Highlanders in particular worship thunder and lightning, the Indians of the plains revere the heavenly rainbow. They worship any splinters where our people find abandoned stones, coca, maize, ropes, scraps of cloth and other things. In some places of the plains, all this is still a lot to be found. Jungs or other Indians living in the mountains also worship lions, tigers, bears and snakes.
How the Indians worship
When they worship wakas, they usually bow their heads, raise their palms and speak to them, asking for what they desire.
It is customary to drink from them as a greeting when crossing rivers or streams, worshiping them and asking them to allow them to cross safely and not carry the traveler away.
The mountaineers have a custom, when they walk along the road, to throw old shoes, feathers, chewed coca or maize at crossroads, on hills, or on piles of stones, or in caves, or on ancient graves, asking to be allowed safely pass and relieve them of road fatigue. It is their custom for them to sacrifice their eyelashes or eyebrow hair as a sacrifice to the sun, hills, winds, storms, thunder, rocks, hollows, caves or other things as a sign of their reverence, asking them to be allowed to go on and return peacefully.
Plains Indians usually worship the sea by throwing maize flour or other things into it, so that it gives them fish or not to rage.
It is also customary for those who go to metal mines to worship hills and mines, asking them to give them their metal, and for such an occasion they stay awake at night drinking drinks and dancing.
At harvest time, when they see potatoes, corncobs, or other roots that are different from the rest, they usually worship them and perform their special worship ceremonies, drinking and dancing, considering this an omen.
It is customary for them to sacrifice eyelashes or eyebrow hair as a sacrifice to the sun, hills, winds, storms, thunder, hollows or other things as a sign of their reverence.
It is common among the Indians to worship fertile land, spilling chicha or coca on it, so that she bestows her favors on them. And for the same purpose, during plowing the land, preparing it for steam and sowing, harvesting, building a house, butchering livestock, they usually sacrifice animal fat, burning it, coca, sheep and other things, drinking and dancing. For the same purpose, they usually fast and abstain from meat, salt, pepper and other things. They also consider it important that pregnant women or those who have periods do not walk through the sown fields.
When, due to the lack of rain, the year is rendered barren, or due to excessive rainfall, or ice, or hail, they ask for help from the vak, the sun, the moon and the stars, shedding tears and sacrificing fat, koku and the like. And for the same purpose, they usually confess to the sorcerer, fast and order their wife, or children, or servants to fast and shed tears.
In some places, it is customary to sacrifice wakam, or hills, or thunder and lightning of a person or child, by killing him and spilling blood or performing other ceremonies. They also usually sacrifice their own blood or the blood of another person in order to appease idols with this sacrifice. The sacrifice of children or people, however, was for matters of great importance, such as a great plague, pestilence, or other great difficulties.
Rites for the dead
It is common among the Indians to secretly dig up the dead from churches or cemeteries to bury them in wakahs, hills, or ancient tombs, or in their own house, or in the house of the deceased himself, in order to give them food and drink at the right time. And then they drink, dance and sing, gathering for this their relatives and friends.
Also, sorcerers usually remove teeth from the dead or cut off their hair and nails in order to perform various witchcraft.
The Indians also have a custom, when they bury their dead, put silver in their mouths, hands, bosom or in another place and dress them in new outfits, so that all this will serve them in another life and in the sad songs that they sing above them.
They also have a custom to feed and drink a lot during the funeral of their dead, singing a sad and sad song, spending this and other ceremonies during the funeral, even up to eight days. And it is customary for them to arrange anniversaries with food, chicha, silver, clothing and other things in order to sacrifice it or perform other ancient rituals, as discreetly as possible.
They also believe that the souls of the dead walk around this world idle and alone, suffering from hunger, thirst, heat and fatigue, and that the heads of their dead or their ghosts visit their relatives or others as a sign that they must die or to them some evil must come.
About sorcerers and witches
It is common practice to resort to the help of sorcerers to heal diseases, and sorcerers usually heal by sucking fluids from the insides or smearing them with lard, meat, or the fat of a kuya or toad, or other mud, or with the help of herbs. In the same way, they resort to the help of sorcerers, so that they predict what will happen, and find for them what they have lost or what has been stolen from them, and so that they entrust them to the patronage of the vak. For all this, they always give sorcerers clothes, silver, food and the like.
They also resort to their services in order to confess their sins and perform very strict repentances that they impose: worship, sacrifice to wakam, fasting or offering of silver or clothing as a gift, or other punishments.
They also resort to the help of sorcerers, so that they give them the means in order to achieve some woman, or to inspire her with love, or so that their mistress does not leave them. To achieve this, they usually give them clothes, capes, koku, a clump of their own hair, or hairs, or from the hair or attire of a participant in the ceremony, and sometimes their own blood, so that from these things they perform their magic.
In some places they are seized by the disease of dancing, to cure them from which they call sorcerers or go to them and perform thousands of superstitious rites and sorceries.
In many places, it is common to carry or put in bed with an accomplice witchcraft talismans, or devil amulets called wakankas, in order to reach out to women or inspire them with love. These wakankas are made from bird feathers or other miscellaneous items, according to the invention of each province. Women also break their large pins or thorns that hold the capes together, believing that this will prevent the man from using violence to get hold of them.
In some places, they are seized by the dancing disease, which they call Taki-onko or Sara-onko, to cure which they call sorcerers or go to them and perform thousands of superstitious rites and sorceries, where idolatry is also encountered, and confession with sorcerers, and others. various ceremonies.
They also burn fat, coca, tobacco, seashells and other things to see what is coming; in some places they build their fences on the ground and utter special words known for this, which summon the devil, and speak to him in some dark place, and in the end they perform many other superstitious rites for this.
On predictions and omens
Usually, when the Indians see snakes, spiders, large worms, toads, butterflies, they say that this is a bad omen that trouble will happen because of this, and they trample the snakes with their left foot, so that the evil omen does not come true.
When they hear the singing of owls, eagle owls, vultures, chickens or other unusual birds, or the howling of dogs, they consider this an unkind omen and a prediction of death for themselves, or for their children, or for their neighbors, and especially for the one in whose house and the place they sing or howl. And they usually donate koku or other things to them, asking them to kill or harm their enemies, but not them. Also, when they hear a nightingale or a goldfinch singing, they say that they will have to quarrel with someone, or that something bad is about to happen.
When they hear the singing of owls, eagle owls, vultures, chickens, they consider it an unkind omen and a prediction of death.
When there is an eclipse of the Sun or the Moon, or some comet appears, or a glow in the air, they usually scream and cry and order others to scream and cry, so that dogs bark or howl, and for this they are beaten with sticks. They usually surround their houses during the night processions with sheaves of fire so that no bad thing happens to them. They also consider it a bad sign when they see a heavenly rainbow. But more often they consider her a good sign, worship her and do not dare to look at her, and if they do see her, they do not dare to point a finger at her, believing that they will die. And the place where, as it seems to them, the base of the rainbow falls, they consider terrible and frightening, believing that there is some kind of waka or other thing worthy of horror and respect.
In case of adversity
When women have childbirth, their husbands and even they themselves fast and confess to the sorcerer, worship waks or hills so that the newborn will be born safely. If twins are born from the same womb, they say that one of the children is the son of lightning, and they sacrifice him to the thunder.
They also have a custom, when they are sick or healthy, to go to bathe in rivers or springs, observing certain ceremonies, believing that thereby souls are cleansed of sins and that they are carried away by the waters, and they take hay or a kind of feather grass and spit on it or perform other rituals, speaking about their sins in the same place in front of the sorcerer, accompanying it with thousands of ceremonies, and they believe that in this way they will become clean and cleansed from sins or from their diseases. Others usually burn the very clothes in which they committed sins, believing that the fire will destroy them and they will become clean and innocent and freed from the burden.
If twins are born from the same womb, they say that one of the children is the son of lightning, and they sacrifice him to the thunder
When their eyelids or lips tremble, or their ears buzz, or they have a trembling part of their body, or they stumble, they say that they will see or hear something good or bad: good, if it was the right eye, or ear, or leg, and bad if left.
On the fire, when it bursts out and sparks are formed, they throw maize or chicha to calm it down.
In order to send illness to the one whom they hate, they carry his clothes and outfits and put on some statue, which they make on behalf of that person, and curse her, spitting on her and execution by hanging. In the same way, figurines are made of clay, or wax, or dough and put them into the fire so that the wax is destroyed there, or the clay hardens, believing that in this way they will be avenged or hurt the one they hate.
On the misconceptions of the Indians against the Catholic faith
Sometimes they say about God that he is unkind and that he does not care about the poor and that they serve him in vain. That he is not a merciful or compassionate God. That there is no forgiveness for serious sins. That God created them in order to live in sin, especially for the dishonorable deeds of lust and drunkenness, and that they cannot be good. That things are done by the will of the sun, moon, vac. And that God does not provide deeds here below.
That, since Christians have images and they worship them, then it is possible to worship waks, idols and stones. And that the images are the idols of Christians. That what the priests and preachers preach is not entirely true, that many deeds are praised by them in order to intimidate the Indians. And that it is just as reasonable to believe your ancestors and your kippah, and memorable information. That it is quite possible to worship Jesus Christ, Our Lord, and the devil at the same time, because they both have already agreed and fraternized.
They say that it is quite possible to worship Jesus Christ and the devil at the same time, because they both have already agreed and fraternized
They question and complicate certain matters of faith. Especially in the sacrament of the Holy Trinity, in the unity of God, and in the passions and death of Jesus Christ, in the virginity of the Virgin Mary, in the most holy sacrament of the altar, in the generally accepted resurrection and regarding the sacrament of the unification of the deceased - since before death they were not given communion and they did not have that information, then they have no faith that it was a sacrament.
They say that marriages can be annulled, even if they were legal and accomplished; and therefore, on any occasion, they ask that their marriage be dissolved. They say that the sin of a bachelor with an unmarried, for some time unlawfully got together by trial in order to marry, is not so bad and that it is not a sin, since they do it for the service of God.
That the priest is evil, savage, greedy, dishonorable, or that he has other shameless sins, that he is not intended for Mass and is not worth the ordinances that he administers, and that he should not worship the wafer and chalice that are on the altar.
Sources
- Sources of the XVI-XVII centuries on the history of the Incas: chronicles, documents, letters.
Kiev, 2013
- Arzamas.academy
In 1567, the Spanish colonial official and chronicler Juan Polo de Ondegardo i Zarate, who worked in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, compiled a memo for missionaries who will live among the Indians of Latin America - "Instruction on the fight against ceremonies and rituals used by Indians since the time of their godlessness ”, where he described the beliefs and customs of the inhabitants of the New World known to him. Arzamas publishes excerpts from this work.
What do the Indians worship
Almost all Indians worship wakas Waki Is a common name for holy places., idols, gorges, rocks or huge stones, hills, mountain peaks, springs, springs and, finally, any thing in nature that seems remarkable and different from the rest. They also tend to worship the sun, moon, stars, morning and evening dawn, the Pleiades and other stars. Also, the dead or their graves - both ancestors and Indians who have already become Christians. Highlanders in particular worship thunder and lightning, the Indians of the plains revere the heavenly rainbow. They worship any splinters where our people find abandoned stones, coca, maize, ropes, scraps of cloth and other things. In some places of the plains, all this is still a lot to be found. Yoongi Yoongi - inhabitants of the valleys of the Pacific coast or inhabitants of valleys in the Andes. or other Indians living in the mountains also worship lions, tigers, bears and snakes.
Peruvian holiday of the sun god. Engraving by Bernard Picard from the series "Religious Rites and Customs of All Nations of the World." 1723-1743 Bibliothèque nationale de FranceHow the Indians worship
When they worship wakas, they usually bow their heads, raise their palms and speak to them, asking for what they desire.
It is customary to drink from them as a greeting when crossing rivers or streams, worshiping them and asking them to allow them to cross safely and not carry the traveler away.
The mountaineers have a custom, when they walk along the road, to throw old shoes, feathers, chewed coca or maize at crossroads, on hills, or on piles of stones, or in caves, or on ancient graves, asking to be allowed safely pass and relieve them of road fatigue. It is their custom for them to sacrifice their eyelashes or eyebrow hair as a sacrifice to the sun, hills, winds, storms, thunder, rocks, hollows, caves or other things as a sign of their reverence, asking them to be allowed to go on and return peacefully.
Plains Indians usually worship the sea by throwing maize flour or other things into it, so that it gives them fish or not to rage.
It is also customary for those who go to metal mines to worship hills and mines, asking them to give them their metal, and for such an occasion they stay awake at night drinking drinks and dancing.
At harvest time, when they see potatoes, corncobs, or other roots that are different from the rest, they usually worship them and perform their special worship ceremonies, drinking and dancing, considering this an omen.
It is customary for them to sacrifice eyelashes or eyebrow hair as a sacrifice to the sun, hills, winds, storms, thunder, hollows or other things as a sign of their reverence.
It is common among Indians to worship fertile land by spilling chicha on it. Chicha - a low-alcohol drink obtained by fermentation of various plants through saliva. or a koku to grant them her favors. And for the same purpose, during plowing the land, preparing it for steam and sowing, harvesting, building a house, butchering livestock, they usually sacrifice animal fat, burning it, coca, sheep and other things, drinking and dancing. For the same purpose, they usually fast and abstain from meat, salt, pepper and other things. They also consider it important that pregnant women or those who have periods do not walk through the sown fields.
When, due to the lack of rain, the year is rendered barren, or due to excessive rainfall, or ice, or hail, they ask for help from the vak, the sun, the moon and the stars, shedding tears and sacrificing fat, koku and the like. And for the same purpose, they usually confess to the sorcerer, fast and order their wife, or children, or servants to fast and shed tears.
The Incas sacrifice to the sun god. Engraving by Bernard Picard from the series "Religious Rites and Customs of All Nations of the World." 1723-1743 Bibliothèque nationale de France In some places, it is customary to sacrifice wakam, or hills, or thunder and lightning of a person or child, by killing him and spilling blood or performing other ceremonies. They also usually sacrifice their own blood or the blood of another person in order to appease idols with this sacrifice. The sacrifice of children or people, however, was for matters of great importance, such as a great plague, pestilence, or other great difficulties.
Rites for the dead
It is common among the Indians to secretly dig up the dead from churches or cemeteries to bury them in wakahs, hills, or ancient tombs, or in their own house, or in the house of the deceased himself, in order to give them food and drink at the right time. And then they drink, dance and sing, gathering for this their relatives and friends.
Also, sorcerers usually remove teeth from the dead or cut off their hair and nails in order to perform various witchcraft.
The Indians also have a custom, when they bury their dead, put silver in their mouths, hands, bosom or in another place and dress them in new outfits, so that all this will serve them in another life and in the sad songs that they sing above them.
Funeral honors among the Peruvians. Engraving by Bernard Picard from the series "Religious Rites and Customs of All Nations of the World." 1723-1743 Bibliothèque nationale de France They also have a custom to feed and drink a lot during the funeral of their dead, singing a sad and sad song, spending this and other ceremonies during the funeral, even up to eight days. And it is customary for them to arrange anniversaries with food, chicha, silver, clothing and other things in order to sacrifice it or perform other ancient rituals, as discreetly as possible.
They also believe that the souls of the dead walk around this world idle and alone, suffering from hunger, thirst, heat and fatigue, and that the heads of their dead or their ghosts visit their relatives or others as a sign that they must die or to them some evil must come.
About sorcerers and witches
It is common practice to resort to the help of sorcerers to heal diseases, and sorcerers usually heal by sucking fluids from the insides or smearing them with lard, meat, or the fat of a kuya or toad, or other mud, or with the help of herbs. In the same way, they resort to the help of sorcerers, so that they predict what will happen, and discover for them what they have lost, or what they have stolen from them, and so that they entrust them to the patronage of the vak. For all this, they always give sorcerers clothes, silver, food and the like.
They also resort to their services in order to confess their sins and perform very strict repentances that they impose: worship, sacrifice to wakam, fasting or offering of silver or clothing as a gift, or other punishments.
They also resort to the help of sorcerers, so that they give them the means in order to achieve some woman, or to inspire her with love, or so that their mistress does not leave them. To achieve this, they usually give them clothes, capes, koku, a clump of their own hair, or hairs, or from the hair or attire of a participant in the ceremony, and sometimes their own blood, so that from these things they perform their magic.
In some places they are seized by the disease of dancing, to cure from which they call sorcerers or go to them and perform thousands of superstitious rituals and sorceries
In many places, it is common to carry or put in bed
to an accomplice witchcraft talismans, or amulets of the devil, called wakankas, in order to achieve women or inspire them with love. These wakankas are made from bird feathers or other miscellaneous items, according to the invention of each province. Women also break their large pins or thorns that hold the capes together, believing that this will prevent the man from using violence to get hold of them.
In some places they are seized by the dancing disease, which they call Taki-onko or Sara-onko, to cure which they call sorcerers or go to them and perform thousands of superstitious rituals and sorceries, where idolatry is also encountered, and confession with sorcerers, and others. various ceremonies.
They also burn fat, coca, tobacco, seashells and other things to see what is coming; in some places they build their fences on the ground and utter special words known for this, thereby invoking the devil, and talking to him in some dark place, and in the end they perform many other superstitious rites for this.
On predictions and omens
Usually, when the Indians see snakes, spiders, large worms, toads, butterflies, they say that this is a bad omen, that because of this trouble must happen, and they trample the snakes with their left foot, so that the evil omen does not come true.
Peruvians during a lunar eclipse. Engraving by Bernard Picard from the series "Religious Rites and Customs of All Nations of the World." 1723-1743 Bibliothèque nationale de France When they hear the singing of owls, eagle owls, vultures, chickens or other unusual birds, or the howling of dogs, they consider this an unkind omen and a prediction of death for themselves, or for their children, or for their neighbors, and especially for the one in whose house and the place they sing or howl. And they usually donate koku or other things to them, asking them to kill or harm their enemies, but not them. Also, when they hear a nightingale or a goldfinch singing, they say that they will have to quarrel with someone, or that something bad is about to happen.
When they hear the singing of owls, eagle owls, vultures, chickens, they consider it an unkind omen and a prediction of death.
When there is an eclipse of the Sun or the Moon, or some comet appears, or a glow in the air, they usually scream and cry and order others to scream and cry, so that dogs bark or howl, and for this they are beaten with sticks. They usually surround their houses during the night processions with sheaves of fire so that no bad thing happens to them. They also consider it a bad sign when they see a heavenly rainbow. But more often they consider her a good sign, worship her and do not dare to look at her, and if they see her, they do not dare to point a finger at her, believing that they will die. And the place where, as it seems to them, the base of the rainbow falls, they consider terrible and frightening, believing that there is some kind of waka or another thing worthy of horror and reverence.
In case of adversity
When women give birth, their husbands and even they themselves fast and confess to the sorcerer, worship wakas or hills, so that the newborn is born safely. If twins are born from the same womb, they say that one of the children is the son of lightning, and they sacrifice him to the thunder.
Celebration of the first haircut of a child among the Incas. Engraving by Bernard Picard from the series "Religious Rites and Customs of All Nations of the World." 1723-1743 Bibliothèque nationale de France In the plains, it is customary for the Indians, when they are ill, to lay out their clothes on the roads so that the travelers can carry away their illness or so that the winds will clean their clothes.
They also have a custom, when they are sick or healthy, to go to bathe in rivers or springs, observing certain ceremonies, believing that by this the souls are cleansed of sins and that they are carried away by the waters, and they take hay or a kind of feather grass and spit on it or perform other rituals, speaking about their sins in the same place in front of the sorcerer, accompanying it with thousands of ceremonies, and they believe that in this way they will become clean and cleansed from sins or from their diseases. Others usually burn the very clothes in which they committed sins, believing that the fire will destroy them and they will become clean and innocent and freed from the burden.
If twins are born from the same womb, they say that one of the children is the son of lightning, and they sacrifice him to the thunder
When their eyelids or lips tremble, or their ears buzz, or any part of their body trembles, or they stumble, they say that they will see or hear something good or bad: good, if it was the right eye, or ear, or leg, and bad if left.
On the fire, when it bursts out and sparks are formed, they throw maize or chicha to calm it down.
In order to send illness to the one whom they hate, they carry his clothes and outfits and put them on some kind of statue, which they make on behalf of that person, and curse her, spitting on her and execution by hanging. In the same way, figurines are made of clay, or wax, or dough and put them in the fire so that the wax is destroyed there, or the clay hardens, believing that in this way they will be avenged or hurt the one they hate.
On the misconceptions of the Indians against the Catholic faith
Sometimes they say about God that he is unkind and that he does not care about the poor and that they serve him in vain. That he is not a merciful or compassionate God. That there is no forgiveness for serious sins. That God created them in order to live in sin, especially for the dishonorable deeds of lust and drunkenness, and that they cannot be good. That things are done by the will of the sun, moon, vac. And that God does not provide deeds here below.
That, since Christians have images and they worship them, then it is possible to worship waks, idols and stones. And that the images are the idols of Christians. That what the priests and preachers preach is not entirely true, that many deeds are praised by them in order to intimidate the Indians. And that it is just as wise to believe your ancestors and your kippah Kipu - nodular letter., and memorable information. That it is quite possible to worship Jesus Christ, Our Lord, and the devil at the same time, because they both have already agreed and fraternized.
They say that it is quite possible to worship Jesus Christ and the devil at the same time, because they both have already agreed and fraternized
They question and complicate certain matters of faith. Especially in the sacrament of the Holy Trinity, in the unity of God, and in the passions and death of Jesus Christ, in the virginity of the Virgin Mary, in the most holy sacrament of the altar, in the generally accepted resurrection and regarding the sacrament of the unification of the deceased - since before death they were not given communion and they did not have that information, then they have no faith that it was a sacrament.
Marriage of the Peruvians. Engraving by Bernard Picard from the series "Religious Rites and Customs of All Nations of the World." 1723-1743 Bibliothèque nationale de France They say that marriages can be annulled, even if they were legal and accomplished; and therefore, on any occasion, they ask that their marriage be dissolved. They say that the sin of a bachelor with an unmarried, for some time unlawfully got together by trial in order to marry, is not so bad and that it is not a sin, since they do it for the service of God.
That the priest is evil, savage, greedy, dishonorable, or that he has other shameless sins, that he is not intended for Mass and is not worth the sacraments that he administers, and that he should not worship the wafer and chalice that are on the altar.
One of the important ceremonies performed for a child in Vedic culture is the first haircut, the eccentric, the purpose of which was to make a long life
child (Ashvalayana, 1, 17.12). “Life is extended with a haircut, but without it it is shortened. Therefore, it must be done in any case. "
According to the Yajur Veda (3.33) and Atharva Veda (4.682), the eccentricity consisted of moistening the heads, reciting a prayer facing the razor, inviting a barber, cutting hair, accompanied by chanting Vedic mantras and wishing the child a long life, prosperity, valor and posterity. ...
The Vedic literature prescribed to carry out the ceremony of the first hair cutting of a child in the first or third year of his life. The Manu-samhita said: "According to the prescription of the sacred revelation, the ceremony of haircuts should be performed for all twice-born at the end of the first or third year" (2.35)
Just as in the Vedic culture, the first haircut was considered an important ritual in human life, just like in the culture of the Turkic peoples, the first haircut was one of the main rituals in a child's life. For the Kazakhs, for example, this ceremony was called shashalu. It was carried out in the first year of a child's life and was accompanied by ritual ceremonies. Translated from Sanskrit, ecdakarana means "doing hair." The hairstyle for boys in the Vedic culture meant that they were shaved bald, leaving a lock of hair on the top of the head called shikha.
This shikha was considered an important attribute in the appearance of upper-class men. The Vedic literature stated that if a man performs religious ceremonies without this strand of hair on the crown, then all his rituals are considered invalid: “Let him always remain with the sacred cord and strand. Without them, the performance of religious ceremonies is tantamount to non-performance. "
In the same way, among the Turkic peoples, during the first haircut, boys were shaved bald, and a lock of hair called aidar was left on the crown of the head.
In the Vedic tradition, it was customary to hide the child's hair remaining from a haircut, burying it in a cowshed or immersing it in a pond. It was believed that hair is a part of the body, and they can become the subject of magical actions and spells, so they were removed in a place inaccessible to enemies.
The Turkic peoples also believe that the hair cut off from the head must be carefully hidden: burned, buried or drowned, since other people, animals or spirits can harm a person through the hair. Therefore, leaving a tuft of hair above the crown meant protecting a person's vitality. During this ceremony, the father recited the mantra: "I cut my hair for a long life, good digestion, well-being, good offspring and valor." It was believed that during the eccentricity, the child receives all these benefits.
In Turkic culture, the shashalu ceremony was also intended for the longevity of the child. “During this ceremony, all adult men of the aul were invited, and the oldest of them was the first to cut a lock of hair from the baby's head. At the same time, the aksakal pronounced a wish: “Zhasynuzakbolsyn!” - “Long life to you!”. After that, he passed the child over to another elder, and then everyone present at the holiday, having done the same, presented the hero of the occasion with money or sweets. And finally, in both Vedic and Turkic cultures, the ceremony of the first hair cutting was accompanied by fun and treating all guests with a feast.
Asel Aitzhanova... Traces of Vedic civilization in the culture and religion of the peoples of Central Asia
Why do the Indians scatter their old shoes and give their eyelashes to the sun and storms, how do they fight the disease of dancing and soothe the fire, and in what cases it makes sense to turn to sorcerers
In 1567, the Spanish colonial official and chronicler Juan Polo de Ondegardo i Zarate, who worked in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, compiled a memo for missionaries who will live among the Indians of Latin America - "Instruction on the fight against ceremonies and rites used by Indians since the time of their godlessness ", where he described the beliefs and customs of the inhabitants of the New World known to him.
(fragment of the composition)
What do the Indians worship
Almost all Indians tend to worship wakas (waki is a common name for holy places), idols, gorges, rocks or huge stones, hills, mountain peaks, springs, springs, and, finally, any thing in nature that seems remarkable and different from the rest. They also tend to worship the sun, moon, stars, morning and evening dawn, the Pleiades and other stars. Also, the dead or their graves - both ancestors and Indians who have already become Christians. Highlanders in particular worship thunder and lightning, the Indians of the plains revere the heavenly rainbow. They worship any splinters where our people find abandoned stones, coca, maize, ropes, scraps of cloth and other things. In some places of the plains, all this is still a lot to be found. Yoongi (yoongi - inhabitants of the valleys of the Pacific coast or inhabitants of valleys in the Andes) or other Indians living in the mountains also worship lions, tigers, bears and snakes.
How the Indians worship
When they worship wakas, they usually bow their heads, raise their palms and speak to them, asking for what they desire.
It is customary to drink from them when crossing rivers or streams as a greeting, worshiping them and asking them to allow them to cross safely and not carry the traveler away.
The mountaineers have a custom, when they walk along the road, to throw old shoes, feathers, chewed coca or maize at crossroads, on hills, or on piles of stones, or in caves, or on ancient graves, asking to be allowed safely pass and relieve them of road fatigue. It is customary for them to sacrifice their eyelashes or eyebrow hair as a sacrifice to the sun, hills, winds, storms, thunder, rocks, hollows, caves or other things as a sign of their reverence, asking that they be allowed to go on and return peacefully.
Plains Indians usually worship the sea by throwing maize flour or other things into it, so that it gives them fish or not to rage.
It is common among Indians to worship the fertile land by spilling chicha (chicha is a low-alcohol drink obtained by fermenting various plants through saliva) or coca on it, so that she bestows her favors on them. And for the same purpose, during plowing the land, preparing it for steam and sowing, harvesting, building a house, butchering livestock, they usually sacrifice animal fat, burning it, coca, sheep and other things, drinking and dancing. For the same purpose, they usually fast and abstain from meat, salt, pepper and other things. They also consider it important that pregnant women or those who have periods do not walk through the sown fields.
When, due to the lack of rain, the year is rendered barren, or due to excessive rainfall, or ice, or hail, they ask for help from the vak, the sun, the moon and the stars, shedding tears and sacrificing fat, koku and the like. And for the same purpose they usually confess to a sorcerer, fast and order their wife, or children, or servants to fast and shed tears.
It is also customary for those who go to metal mines to worship hills and mines, asking them to give them their metal, and for such an occasion they stay awake at night drinking drinks and dancing.
At harvest time, when they see potatoes, corncobs, or other roots that are different from the rest, they usually worship them and perform their special worship ceremonies, drinking and dancing, considering this an omen.
In some places, it is customary to sacrifice wakam, or hills, or thunder and lightning of a person or child, by killing him and spilling blood or performing other ceremonies. They also usually sacrifice their own blood or the blood of another person in order to appease idols with this sacrifice. The sacrifice of children or people, however, was for matters of great importance, such as a great plague, pestilence, or other great difficulties.
Rites for the dead
It is common among the Indians to secretly dig up the dead from churches or cemeteries to bury them in wakahs, hills, or ancient tombs, or in their own house, or in the house of the deceased himself, in order to give them food and drink at the right time. And then they drink, dance and sing, gathering for this their relatives and friends.
Also, sorcerers usually remove teeth from the dead or cut off their hair and nails in order to perform various witchcraft.
The Indians also have a custom, when they bury their dead, put silver in their mouths, hands, bosom or in another place and dress them in new outfits, so that all this will serve them in another life and in the sad songs that they sing above them.
They also have a custom to feed and drink a lot during the funeral of their dead, singing a sad and sad song, spending this and other ceremonies during the funeral, even up to eight days. And it is customary for them to arrange anniversaries with food, chicha, silver, clothing and other things in order to sacrifice it or perform other ancient rituals, as discreetly as possible.
They also believe that the souls of the dead walk around this world idle and alone, suffering from hunger, thirst, heat and fatigue, and that the heads of their dead or their ghosts visit their relatives or others as a sign that they must die or to them some evil must come.
About sorcerers and witches
It is common practice to resort to the help of sorcerers to heal diseases, and sorcerers usually heal by sucking fluids from the insides or smearing them with lard, meat, or the fat of a kuya or toad, or other mud, or with the help of herbs. In the same way, they resort to the help of sorcerers, so that they predict what will happen, and discover for them what they have lost, or what they have stolen from them, and so that they entrust them to the patronage of the vak. For all this, they always give sorcerers clothes, silver, food and the like.
They also resort to their services in order to confess their sins and perform very strict repentances that they impose: worship, sacrifice to wakam, fasting or offering of silver or clothing as a gift, or other punishments.
They also resort to the help of sorcerers, so that they give them the means in order to achieve some woman, or to inspire her with love, or so that their mistress does not leave them. To achieve this, they usually give them clothes, capes, koku, a clump of their own hair, or hairs, or from the hair or attire of a participant in the ceremony, and sometimes their own blood, so that from these things they perform their magic.
In many places, it is common to carry or put in bed
to an accomplice witchcraft talismans, or amulets of the devil, called wakankas, in order to achieve women or inspire them with love. These wakankas are made from bird feathers or other miscellaneous items, according to the invention of each province. Women also break their large pins or thorns that hold the capes together, believing that this will prevent the man from using violence to get hold of them.
In some places they are seized by the dancing disease, which they call Taki-onko or Sara-onko, to cure which they call sorcerers or go to them and perform thousands of superstitious rituals and sorceries, where idolatry is also encountered, and confession with sorcerers, and others. various ceremonies.
They also burn fat, coca, tobacco, seashells and other things to see what is coming; in some places they build their fences on the ground and utter special words known for this, thereby invoking the devil, and talking to him in some dark place, and in the end they perform many other superstitious rites for this.
On predictions and omens
Usually, when the Indians see snakes, spiders, large worms, toads, butterflies, they say that this is a bad omen, that because of this trouble must happen, and they trample the snakes with their left foot, so that the evil omen does not come true.
When they hear the singing of owls, eagle owls, vultures, chickens or other unusual birds, or the howling of dogs, they consider this an unkind omen and a prediction of death for themselves, or for their children, or for their neighbors, and especially for the one in whose house and the place they sing or howl. And they usually donate koku or other things to them, asking them to kill or harm their enemies, but not them. Also, when they hear a nightingale or a goldfinch singing, they say that they will have to quarrel with someone, or that something bad is about to happen.
When there is an eclipse of the Sun or the Moon, or some comet appears, or a glow in the air, they usually scream and cry and order others to scream and cry, so that dogs bark or howl, and for this they are beaten with sticks. They usually surround their houses during the night processions with sheaves of fire so that no bad thing happens to them. They also consider it a bad sign when they see a heavenly rainbow. But more often they consider her a good sign, worship her and do not dare to look at her, and if they see her, they do not dare to point a finger at her, believing that they will die. And the place where, as it seems to them, the base of the rainbow falls, they consider terrible and frightening, believing that there is some kind of waka or another thing worthy of horror and reverence.
In case of adversity
When women have childbirth, their husbands and even they themselves fast and confess to the sorcerer, worship waks or hills so that the newborn will be born safely. If twins are born from the same womb, they say that one of the children is the son of lightning, and they sacrifice him to the thunder.
In the plains, it is customary for the Indians, when they are ill, to lay out their clothes on the roads so that the travelers can carry away their illness or so that the winds will clean their clothes.
They also have a custom, when they are sick or healthy, to go to bathe in rivers or springs, observing certain ceremonies, believing that by this the souls are cleansed of sins and that they are carried away by the waters, and they take hay or a kind of feather grass and spit on it or perform other rituals, speaking about their sins in the same place in front of the sorcerer, accompanying it with thousands of ceremonies, and they believe that in this way they will become clean and cleansed from sins or from their diseases. Others usually burn the very clothes in which they committed sins, believing that the fire will destroy them and they will become clean and innocent and freed from the burden.
When their eyelids or lips tremble, or their ears buzz, or any part of their body trembles, or they stumble, they say that they will see or hear something good or bad: good, if it was the right eye, or ear, or leg, and bad if left.
On the fire, when it bursts out and sparks are formed, they throw maize or chicha to calm it down.
In order to send illness to the one whom they hate, they carry his clothes and outfits and put them on some kind of statue, which they make on behalf of that person, and curse her, spitting on her and execution by hanging. In the same way, figurines are made of clay, or wax, or dough and put them in the fire so that the wax is destroyed there, or the clay hardens, believing that in this way they will be avenged or hurt the one they hate.
On the misconceptions of the Indians against the Catholic faith
Sometimes they say about God that he is unkind and that he does not care about the poor and that they serve him in vain. That he is not a merciful or compassionate God. That there is no forgiveness for serious sins. That God created them in order to live in sin, especially for the dishonorable deeds of lust and drunkenness, and that they cannot be good. That things are done by the will of the sun, moon, vac. And that God does not provide deeds here below.
That, since Christians have images and they worship them, then it is possible to worship waks, idols and stones. And that the images are the idols of Christians. That what the priests and preachers preach is not entirely true, that many deeds are praised by them in order to intimidate the Indians. And that it is just as reasonable to believe your ancestors and your kipu (kipu - knotted letter), and memorable information. That it is quite possible to worship Jesus Christ, Our Lord, and the devil at the same time, because they both have already agreed and fraternized.
They question and complicate certain matters of faith. Especially in the sacrament of the Holy Trinity, in the unity of God, and in the passions and death of Jesus Christ, in the virginity of the Virgin Mary, in the most holy sacrament of the altar, in the generally accepted resurrection and regarding the sacrament of the unification of the deceased - since before death they were not given communion and they did not have that information, then they have no faith that it was a sacrament.
They say that marriages can be annulled, even if they were legal and accomplished; and therefore, on any occasion, they ask that their marriage be dissolved. They say that the sin of a bachelor with an unmarried, for some time unlawfully got together by trial in order to marry, is not so bad and that it is not a sin, since they do it for the service of God.
That the priest is evil, savage, greedy, dishonorable, or that he has other shameless sins, that he is not intended for Mass and is not worth the sacraments that he administers, and that he should not worship the wafer and chalice that are on the altar.
Literature:
Sources of the XVI-XVII centuries on the history of the Incas: chronicles, documents, letters. Kiev, 2013
Scientists at the University of Bradford conducted a chemical analysis of the hair of four baby mummies found in the Andes. The children killed were between six and fifteen years old, their mummies are very well preserved, since they were essentially frozen in high mountain caves, and the analyzes carried out allow us to establish a lot about the victims. As you know, the Incas did not cut the hair of children, so each victim's hair, approximately 25 cm long, stores information about their diet and lifestyle.
In particular, it was found that the "road to death" for children was quite long. In the case of one of the mummies, which belonged to a 15-year-old girl, they began preparing her for sacrifice about a year before the ritual murder took place. Hair analysis data show that as a child, the child ate mainly vegetables and grains typical for the diet of peasants. However, after about 12 months of death, the diet was drastically changed, and the girl was mainly fed meat and more expensive maize. This showed a "rise" in the status of a child who was chosen as a sacrifice to the gods, stresses Andrew Wilson, an archaeologist at the University of Bradford.
How exactly the children were killed, archaeologists find it difficult to answer. It is only known that at least one of the victims was smashed in the head. As archaeologist Timothy Taylor suggests, the victims were apparently taken to the ritual site of the murder, drugged with sleeping pills, and then killed.
The fact that the Incas practiced human sacrifice is evidenced by various images of naked victims with their hands tied behind their backs and figures with a knife in one hand and a severed head in the other. Most often, prisoners captured during wars and raids were sacrificed. However, specially selected, beautiful children - deprived of physical disabilities and did not reach puberty - could also become especially trusted messengers to the ancestor gods. These are the mummies that were found in the Andes. The usual practice was to leave the child sacrifice in the sanctuaries of the highlands at an altitude of about 6 thousand meters. These sacrifices, which were called "ascent into the heavenly permafrost", had a general imperial significance and were timed to coincide with the December solstice.
Upon reaching the highland sanctuary, the priests either killed the victim with a blow to the back of the head, or placed him in the crypt alive while she was still under the influence of drugs.
Let us recall that the Inca state arose, apparently, in the XII century, its heyday fell on the XV century. It was then, having finally crushed the inveterate enemies-neighbors, chunks, it, in fact, turned into an empire. Its unity was preserved until the end of the reign of the Inca Huayna Kapak. After his death, the heirs of Huascar and Atahualpa began to quarrel among themselves and divided the state, thereby weakening it. This was taken advantage of by the conquistadors, who arrived, led by Francisco Pizarro, at Atahualpa's "headquarters" in Cajamarca, in northern Peru, on November 16, 1532. Using the effect of surprise and a clear superiority in weapons, the Spaniard took the Inca prisoner and, after forcibly christening him, strangled him. The struggle of the conquistadors with the Incas finally ended four decades later, in 1572, when the last Inca, Tupac Amaru, was executed on the main square of Cuzco.
