INCA CULTURE continued

                                     Inca Lifestyle

      At lower altitudes in more temperate and subtropical valleys bananas, coffee, beans, yucca, avocado, plus a variety of fruits and vegetables are grown. Such crops are rotated with corn, wheat, and alfalfa. There are special rituals that accompany the planting of corn where the men plow, but the women do the planting.

      Water symbolizes eternity, and where there is water, there is life. Sources of water are sacred; springs are regarded as entrances to the inner earth.  Immersion in water is a healing practice.  Ceremonial baths have been found in all ancient Inca ruins. Mineral waters and hot springs are found in the mountains surrounding Cuzco and Machu Picchu.  Mayu means river.

       Quechua women dress in vibrant bright colors. Traditional dress of Quechua women is a combination of pre-Spanish and Spanish colonial. Skirts are full and gathered, and worn in layers giving the hips a broad dimension. Hats may be a Panama-type woven from palm fibers, but the most common hat we

Always willing to pose!

saw was a brown woolen rounded top-hat type that sat on top of the woman’s head. I tried in vain to figure out how they kept these hats on. Women wear their dark hair long in two braids fastened in back with a ribbon. The women are short (generally a little less than 5’) and physically small. Babies and supplies are carried on their back held by a large colorful  woven cloth.

Men wear traditional western clothing including a vest and brimmed hat. Footwear is either leather sandals or ones made from tire rubber. Men carry small woven pouches to hold coca leaves. Coca leaves are an integral part of Quechua life. The leaves are often chewed as a digestive aid or as an appetite suppressant, and of course to brew tea.

     It takes about six months to spin, dye, and weave the ponchos that are distinctive in color and design which identify the wearer’s village/district.

     Young girls weave a multi colored scarf, called a chilina. She works on it in her spare time. At a festival or celebration when she sees a young man she wishes to have a serious relationship with, she gives him the chilina and once it is accepted, they go off to consummate their relationship.

      Young boys learn songs and how to play an instrument, often a mandolin or flute. At a festival, if he sees a certain girl he desires, he’ll serenade her. If she also desires, they go off to consummate the relationship.

 But whatever the custom, after the commitment, the couple visits her parents, who in turn call his parents. Parents exchange coca leaves. The young couple moves in with one of the families, and helps where needed. Pregnancy soon follows. The child is accepted by both families and after living together two years the law gives the same rights to women and children as by any formal ceremony.

       The Incas had no written language, but intricate patterns woven into their fabrics told a story. Fabrics were crucial to the culture. Awa is the Quechua word for weaving, and is considered the highest of the Quechua skills. One of the first things girls learn is how to use a drop spindle to spin alpaca or llama wool into thread.

     The alpaca is domesticated and raised almost exclusively for its wool, which is finer than sheep’s wool. The alpaca is sheared every two years.

      In one form of Awa a portable backstrap loom attached to a belt is braced around the weaver’s waist, the other end is anchored to a stake in the ground or around a tree. This ancient art, threatened by modernization, is being revived. The fabrics woven by the Quechua are beautiful. They make many things from these cloths and sell them for very small prices.