Peregrination and Rituality in the Southern Provinces

Abstract

The repeated references to ritual borracheras (ritual drunkness) and taquí ceremonial dances in the colonial documents, illustrate the importance of religion in the ancient Andes. Ritual practices permeated all aspects of social life, and pilgrimage, divination rituals and offerings to the ancestors and huaca deities were periodically performed following a strict religious calendar. During the Inca era, mountain worship acquired particular importance. In exceptional political circumstances, it was associated with human sacrifice. Many of the huacas residing in the summit of the highest mountains received children as offerings, but also luxury objects in gold and silver, textiles and precious shells from the distinct provinces. This chapter is dedicated to understanding these ritual practices in the southern Andes, in order to contextualize the discovery of three human bodies found in Llullaillaco.