Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of PeruBingham, Hiram
History
Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of Peru
Bingham, Hiram
Incas; Peru -- Antiquities; Peru -- Description and travel
Near the Santa Rosa trees is a tall bell-tower. The sight of a
picturesque belfry with four or five bells of different sizes hanging
each in its respective window makes a strong appeal. It is quite
otherwise on Sunday mornings when these same bells, "out of tune with
themselves," or actually cracked, are all rung at the same time. The
resulting clangor and din is unforgettable. I presume the Chinese would
say it was intended to drive away the devils--and surely such noise
must be "thoroughly uncongenial even to the most irreclaimable devil,"
as Lord Frederick Hamilton said of the Canton practices. Church bells
in the United States and England are usually sweet-toned and intended
to invite the hearer to come to service, or else they ring out in
joyous peals to announce some festive occasion. There is nothing
inviting or joyous about the bells in southern Peru. Once in a while
one may hear a bell of deep, sweet tone, like that of the great bell in
Cuzco, which is tolled when the last sacrament is being administered
to a dying Christian; but the general idea of bell-ringers in this
part of the world seems to be to make the greatest possible amount
of racket and clamor. On popular saints' days this is accompanied by
firecrackers, aerial bombs, and other noise-making devices which again
remind one of Chinese folkways. Perhaps it is merely that fundamental
fondness for making a noise which is found in all healthy children.
On Sunday afternoon the plaza of Santa Rosa was well filled with
Quichua holiday-makers, many of whom had been imbibing freely of
chicha, a mild native brew usually made from ripe corn. The crowd was
remarkably good-natured and given to an unusual amount of laughter
and gayety. For them Sunday is truly a day of rest, recreation,
and sociability. On week days, most of them, even the smaller boys,
are off on the mountain pastures, watching the herds whose wool
brings prosperity to Santa Rosa. One sometimes finds the mountain
Indians on Sunday afternoon sodden, thoroughly soaked with chicha,
and inclined to resent the presence of inquisitive strangers; not so
these good folk of Santa Rosa.
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FIGURE
Indian Alcaldes at Santa Rosa
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FIGURE
Native Druggists in the Plaza of Sicuani
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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