Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 45.djvu/850

828 years in advance of the Europeans? The year was called by a name derived from a Quichua word signifying to bind, and the half century of fifty years was figured by the hieroglyph of a bundle of reeds tied with a ribbon. Each of the twelve months was named after its principal festival.

In the month of December a peculiar dance, in which only men participated, was performed with great solemnity on the plaza in front of the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco. Offerings were made to the divinity of lamas, which were burned on pyres of odorous woods; and birds and various animals, but rarely human victims, were sacrificed. The dances followed, representatives of all the provinces taking part in them. These dances were instituted by Huayna Capac, the twelfth Inca. Two or three hundred men, holding one another's hands, executed a kind of farandale, stepping in concert two paces forward and one backward, so that they constantly gained ground, and all the time singing of the exploits of the Incas. Huayna Capac had a golden chain made which they all took hold of. It was as long as the two plazas of Cuzco, and was composed of rings of the diameter of the sun. The Indians hid it carefully at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, and a legend relates that it was thrown into the depths of Lake Titicaca. The young Incas appeared at this festival, according to the expression of the historian Balboa, as armed knights. The sages charged with their education prepared them for the solemnity by scourging them with leaves and rubbing their figures with the blood of the offered lamas. The blood of the lamas and other victims also flowed in January, February, March, and April. The feast of the corn harvest was celebrated in May, and was held in the Gardens of the Sun, on the hill Colcampata. The people intoxicated themselves with a fermented drink (chicha), made from corn and fruit, and danced in masquerade.

For the June festival, which was dedicated to the sun, rude statues of men and women were made and covered with rich vestments. The courts of the temples were strewn with flowers, and the reigning Inca, with the chiefs of the tribes, executed sacred dances. The feast of the Pleiades is still celebrated in this month. In July and August spotted lamas and pigs were sacrificed, as an offering to obtain abundant crops.

The vernal equinox was celebrated in September. All the idols were collected in one place previous to the rising of the moon. As soon as the star appeared above the horizon the Indians uttered loud cries for the aversion of harm, and struck one another with whips of burning straw; washed in a running brook; and, on their return, sacrificed a hundred white lamas. They kept intoxicated for four days, and ate cakes prepared by maidens with the blood of the victims. Another hecatomb was