RITUALS

The Incas were probably one of the most religious cultures in history. Nearly every single aspect of their lives involved the worship of some sort of idol. They worshipped through prayers, dances and sacrifices. Sacrifices were the most important form of worship.

The Incas sacrificed a wide variety of things, ranging from objects they created, to crops they grew, to livestock, to their own children. They type of sacrifice they made depended on the importance of the god they gift was for and the seriousness of the situation they were involved in. human sacrifice was only done for very especial occasions and in crisis situation.

Their sacrifice were very specific had to be followed exactly to change the order of a ceremony would mean that the gods would not be pleased and would bring more problems. At a ceremony there would be much drinking and dancing that were part of the ritual. Sacrifice would be accompanied by prayers as well. Like the sacrifice, prayers had to be recited in a specific manor; there were many prayers for many situations.

All these sacrifices and prayers were offered to the most important things in the Inca culture, their deities. Incas were incredibly idolatrous; they idolized a wide variety of things, from dirt to the sun. The Incas did have a hierarchy of gods, the top being viracocha, or some times called pachaya or “creator of the world”. He created the light and the dark, the earth and the see.

It was an amazing religious culture.