Sacred Sites, Huacas and Pilgrimages

The Inca landscape was saturated with sacred presence. The word huaca, also spelled wak’a in modern Quechua orthography, referred to anything that was invested with supernatural power: a strangely shaped rock, a spring, a tree, a hill, a tomb, a meteorite, a rainbow, or a person of extraordinary appearance or behavior. The Inca Empire, which at its height in the early sixteenth century stretched more than 4,000 kilometers along the Andes, recognized thousands of huacas, and the maintenance of the major shrines was a central concern of the state religion. Pilgrimages to the most important sites, including the Coricancha in Cusco, the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca, the oracle of Pachacamac on the central coast, and the mountaintop sanctuary of Vilcacunca, drew worshippers from across the empire and helped to integrate the diverse peoples of Tawantinsuyu into a common cult.

The sacred sites and huacas of the Andes were not isolated monuments but elements of an integrated sacred geography, in which shrines were linked by ritual paths, by the ceque lines of Cusco, and by the ceque-like systems of other major centers. The chroniclers Bernabé Cobo, Pedro Cieza de León, and Garcilaso de la Vega described the major pilgrimage routes in the decades after the Spanish conquest, and their accounts have been supplemented by modern archaeological surveys, particularly the work of Tom Zuidema, Johan Reinhard, and Ronald MacQuown, which has identified the physical remains of many of the principal shrines and pilgrimage destinations of the Inca state.

The Meaning of the Term Huaca

The meaning of the term huaca has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate. The chroniclers used the word to refer to a very wide range of objects, places, and phenomena, and the modern Spanish derivative huaca, sometimes written guaca, has acquired a similarly broad range of meanings. The word is sometimes translated as “idol,” sometimes as “sacred place,” and sometimes as “supernatural being,” and none of these translations captures the full range of the original. The most accurate general meaning is “a thing or place invested with sacred power,” but the term carried additional connotations of unusual appearance, of fertility, and of access to other worlds.

The Incas recognized several types of huaca. Some, called urqu huacas, were natural features such as mountains, rocks, and springs. Others, called rumi huacas, were man-made stones or buildings. A third category, called runa huacas, were living persons believed to possess supernatural power, including the deformed, the albino, and those born during thunderstorms. Each huaca had a particular character, a particular set of offerings, and a particular calendrical date on which it was to be honored. The chroniclers report that the number of huacas in the empire was almost infinite, and they describe the great variety of forms they took. The maintenance of huacas was a central task of the religious specialists, and the Sapa Inca himself was required to make offerings at the principal shrines of the empire at the appropriate times.

The Ceque System of Cusco

The ceque system of Cusco was the sacred geography that organized the Inca capital and its surroundings into a precise calendrical and political diagram. According to the chronicler Bernabé Cobo, the ceques were forty-one lines that radiated outward from the Coricancha in Cusco like the spokes of a wheel, passing through 328 huacas distributed across the landscape of the valley. Each ceque was associated with a particular kin group, called a panaca, and each huaca on a ceque was the responsibility of a particular family within that panaca, who were required to maintain the shrine and provide offerings at the prescribed times.

The ceque system was first reconstructed in detail by the American anthropologist Tom Zuidema in his 1964 monograph “The Ceque System of Cuzco,” which has remained the standard reference for the subject. Zuidema argued that the ceques served not only as a sacred map but also as a solar observatory, since the alignment of certain ceques with the rising and setting of the sun at the solstices allowed priests to regulate the agricultural calendar. The system also organized the social and political structure of Cusco, since each panaca’s ceque was associated with a particular lineage, a particular direction, and a particular set of ritual obligations. The whole system constituted a kind of written record, encoded not in alphabetic script but in the spatial arrangement of shrines across the landscape. The ceque system is therefore of interest not only for the study of religion but also for the study of Andean record keeping, since the same principles of spatial encoding that produced the ceques also produced the quipu, the system of knotted strings used by the Incas for accounting and possibly for historical record.

The Island of the Sun

The Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca, known in Quechua as Isla del Sol, was the largest island in the lake and the legendary birthplace of the sun. The island contains extensive Inca ruins, including the Temple of the Sun, which features a famous carved stone known as the Rock of the Origin, and the Sacred Rock of the Puma. According to the Inca tradition, the sun was created here by the command of Viracocha, and the first Sapa Inca, Manco Cápac, was sent forth from the island to found the dynasty in Cusco.

The Island of the Sun was an important pilgrimage destination, and the Inca state built a temple complex on the northern end of the island that included a sacred rock, several courtyards, and a complex of storage and residential buildings. The site, known as the Pilko Kaina, was excavated in the late twentieth century and has yielded a wealth of information about Inca ritual practice, including the remains of llama sacrifices, gold and silver figurines, and finely woven textiles. The Pilko Kaina is one of the most important Inca sites in the Lake Titicaca basin, and the island as a whole remains a place of pilgrimage for people from across the Andes.

Apu Mountain Spirits

The mountain spirits called apus were among the most important and widely venerated huacas of the Inca world. The word apu referred to a mountain deity, and the highest peaks of the Andes were regarded as the dwelling places of powerful apus who controlled the weather, the fertility of the lands below, and the fate of travelers. The Inca identified a hierarchy of apus that corresponded to the political hierarchy of the empire: each province had its principal apu, and the highest apus, such as Salcantay near Cusco, the Ausangate range, and the Huayna Picchu above Machu Picchu, were venerated throughout the empire.

The cult of the apus involved pilgrimages to the high shrines, offerings of llama fat and coca leaves, and the performance of rituals at the base of the mountain or on its summit. The apus were also consulted for divination: the flight of birds over a mountain, the appearance of clouds around its peak, and the sound of avalanches were all interpreted as messages from the apu. In the geography and administration of the empire, the apus played a role in marking the boundaries of provinces and in legitimizing the authority of local lords, who claimed descent from particular mountains. The Inca identification of particular peaks as the dwelling places of apus also influenced the placement of major architectural works, including the royal estate of Machu Picchu, which stands at the base of the apu Huayna Picchu.

The Coricancha and the Imperial Cult

The Coricancha, the Temple of the Sun in Cusco, was the most important religious building in the Inca state and the center of the imperial cult. The building, which was rebuilt several times during the imperial period, occupied a large rectangular enclosure in the center of the capital and was reportedly sheathed in sheets of gold that reflected the rays of the rising sun. The principal sanctuary contained a large golden disk representing the sun and a similar silver disk representing the moon, and the side chapels held representations of the stars, the rainbow, and the thunder. The temple also contained a garden of golden and silver plants, animals, and people, intended to represent the cosmos in microcosm.

The Coricancha was the destination of the most important pilgrimage of the Inca year, the Inti Raymi, celebrated at the June solstice. The festival involved the gathering of the vassal lords, the presentation of tribute, and the sacrifice of llamas whose blood was offered to the sun. The chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega described the festival in detail in his “Comentarios Reales de los Incas” of 1609, and the modern revival of the Inti Raymi in Cusco, held each June 24, draws on his account. The Coricancha itself was partially destroyed by the Spanish in the 1530s, who built the church and convent of Santo Domingo on its foundations, but the original Inca walls, with their finely fitted ashlar masonry, are still visible around the perimeter of the colonial complex.

The Oracle of Pachacamac

The oracle of Pachacamac, on the central coast of Peru about 31 kilometers southeast of modern Lima, was the most important coastal sanctuary of the Inca state. The site, which had been a major religious center long before the Inca expansion, was dedicated to a local creator deity also called Pachacamac, whose name is unrelated to the highland earth goddess Pachamama. The Incas incorporated the site into their state cult after the conquest of the coast in the late fifteenth century, building a temple of the sun on the highest point of the complex and maintaining the older oracle as a separate institution.

Pachacamac was the destination of pilgrims from across the central Andes, and the oracle was consulted on matters of state, on questions of personal fortune, and on the outcome of warfare. The chroniclers report that the oracle was famous for its ambiguity, often giving answers that could be interpreted in more than one way, and the high priest of Pachacamac was said to have great influence at the imperial court. The archaeological site, which includes a large stepped pyramid, several courtyards, and a complex of residential and administrative buildings, has been the subject of intensive excavation in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and has yielded a wealth of information about Inca ritual practice on the coast. The site is preserved today as a national archaeological park, and the coastal geography of the area is marked by several other important Inca and pre-Inca religious centers, including the Huacas del Sol y de la Luna of the Moche culture and the oracle site of Chotuna-Chornancap.

Pilgrimage Routes and Capac Ñan

Pilgrimage was made possible in part by the Inca road system, the great network of royal highways called the Capac Ñan, which linked Cusco to the farthest corners of the empire. The roads, which extended more than 40,000 kilometers in total, were maintained by the state and were used by armies, messengers, and porters carrying tribute, as well as by pilgrims journeying to the major shrines. The roads were marked at intervals by tambos, or way stations, where travelers could find food and shelter, and by small shrines, where pilgrims could pause to make offerings.

The major pilgrimage destinations were linked to Cusco by royal roads. The road to the Island of the Sun, in Lake Titicaca, ran southeast from the capital through the Vilcanota valley and the high puna, passing through a number of important huacas along the way. The road to Pachacamac, on the central coast, ran westward over the Andes and down into the coastal desert. The road to Vilcacunca, the mountaintop shrine above the Sacred Valley, ran northward through the valley and up to the high sanctuary. The chroniclers report that the roads were kept clear of obstacles and that, in some places, were paved with dressed stone, and modern archaeological surveys have identified extensive sections of the original Inca paving in many parts of the Andes.

Shrines, Offerings and the Maintenance of Huacas

The maintenance of huacas was a major task of the Inca state. Each of the major shrines was staffed by a small group of priests and attendants, who were responsible for keeping the sacred fire burning, for making the prescribed offerings at the appropriate times, and for receiving the pilgrims who came to consult the oracle or to make offerings of their own. The offerings typically included coca leaves, llama fat, chicha, small animal sacrifices (especially guinea pigs), and, on the most important occasions, llamas or even humans. The Spanish chroniclers report that the temples contained large stores of these offerings, accumulated over decades or centuries of ritual practice.

The archaeological record confirms the chroniclers’ accounts. Excavations at major Inca sites, including the Coricancha, the Island of the Sun, the mountaintop shrine of Llullaillaco on the border of present-day Argentina and Chile, and the cave of Lake Titicaca have yielded large quantities of offering materials, including gold and silver figurines, finely woven textiles, conopas, and the mummified remains of sacrificed children. The site of Llullaillaco, in particular, where three child mummies were recovered in 1999 in a remarkable state of preservation, has provided dramatic confirmation of the chroniclers’ accounts of the Capacocha sacrifice, in which carefully selected children were brought to high mountain shrines and killed in honor of the apus and the Inca state.