Mythology
Practically all Quechuas in the Andes have been nominally Roman Catholic since colonial times. Nevertheless, traditional religious forms persist in many regions, blended with Christian elements. Quechua ethnic groups also share traditional religions with other Andean peoples, particularly belief in Mother Earth (Pachamama), who grants fertility and to whom burnt offerings and libations are regularly made. Also important are the mountain spirits (apu) as well as lesser local deities (wak'a), who are still venerated especially in southern Peru.
The Quechuas came to terms with their repeated historical experience of genocide in the form of various myths. These include the figure of Nak'aq or Pishtaku (“butcher”), the white murderer who sucks out the fat from the bodies of the indigenous peoples he kills, and a song about a bloody river. In their myth of Wiraquchapampa the Q'ero Indians describe the victory of the Apus over the Spaniards. Of the myths still alive today, the Inkarrí myth common in southern Peru is especially interesting; it forms a cultural element linking the Quechua Indians throughout the region from Ayacucho to Cusco.
Read more about this topic: Quechua People
Famous quotes containing the word mythology:
“The Anglo-American can indeed cut down, and grub up all this waving forest, and make a stump speech, and vote for Buchanan on its ruins, but he cannot converse with the spirit of the tree he fells, he cannot read the poetry and mythology which retire as he advances. He ignorantly erases mythological tablets in order to print his handbills and town-meeting warrants on them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the United States there’s a Puritan ethic and a mythology of success. He who is successful is good. In Latin countries, in Catholic countries, a successful person is a sinner.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“One may as well preach a respectable mythology as anything else.”
—Humphrey, Mrs. Ward (1851–1920)