Inca Religion

There are many myths about the start of the Inca Empire. It is known that the Incas started as a single family tribe around 1200 AD. One religion says that Viracocha created the world and people. When these people started fighting with each other, Viracocha turned them to stone. Later, he returned, created the sun and moon, recreated humans, and spread them across the earth. The legend says Viracocha then taught the tribes how to farm, how to set up governments and how to live peacefully. Viracocha means “foam of the sea” because they believe he returned out of Lake Titicaca, then returned after teaching the people how to live, and will come back when the people need him. From this, the Inca tribe simply began defeating and conquering other …show more content…
Each new area conquered would have their local gods added to the growing list of official Inca gods. One central theme of the Inca religion was the duality that exists in the universe. The belief was that there were two realms, the upper and lower. The upper included the gods of the sun, moon, sky, and lightning. The lower realm was ruled by Pachamama, the god of the earth, and the ancestors of the Incas. Human sacrifice was often used as an offering to the gods. To be sacrificed was seen as an honor. The sacrifice would be of a child or a slave. Divination was used to tell the future of the empire, of social events and Inca battle outcomes. The Inca calendar had twelve months with thirty days in each month. At the end of each month, there would be a different festival dedicated to one of the gods …show more content…
This allowed the military to continue in times of war without having to take anything directly from the citizens. They would simply take from the storehouses which would be filled again with tributes from the citizens when the war ended. The storehouses also helped during famine. The citizens would be given all the food and tools necessary to continue their work, and they would have to pay back everything when the famine ended. Another interesting part of the empire is that everyone was required to do at least some work if they were able. On certain days each year, the lords in the province would go to his land to plow, cultivate crops, or do whatever work was needed. It was not really necessary for them to as they had workers and servants and could have simply lived off their work. This allowed the rulers to lead by example and their followers were willing to work harder for them. Because all able bodied people worked hard, the sick and injured could have enough supplies from the storehouses to be able to survive (Internet History Sourcebooks). One useful system was having common householders work specific jobs for the government on top of managing their homes and servants. This service was called mit’a, which could include working in mines, being a servant for a nobleman, or transporting goods around the empire. They worked on public works projects like building