The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical SystemsNuttall, Zelia
Religion
The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations: A Comparative Research Based on a Study of the Ancient Mexican Religious, Sociological, and Calendrical Systems
We have now traced the idea of the Above and Below, Centre and Four
Quarters in Ancient Peru. It remains to be noted that the capital itself,
which was to be the image of the whole empire, was primarily divided into
two halves and four quarters, and subdivided into 4×3=12 wards the names
of which doubtlessly corresponded with that of their inhabitants. When the
sacred centre of the capital is added to these it is clear that the City
of Cuzco was subdivided into as many parts as there were directions in
space, _i. e._ 13. It exemplified, therefore, an association of 2×10=20
categories of people classified according to ages, with thirteen
directions in space, and a general subdivision of all classes into four
parts. The Inca with the four Capacs and the Coya with the four Camayocs
formed two groups of five each, which could well have been represented by
a large central figure surrounded by four smaller ones of equal size. By
coloring these with red, yellow, black and white, their assignment to the
cardinal point could have been expressed. The central figure could be
painted in four colors, for only the Inca and his lineage could wear
many-colored garments, these being indicative that they represented the
centre or union of the four quarters.
Two important features of the system remain to be discussed: We have
studied the minute and methodical classification of the entire population
into distinct groups without touching upon the practical reasons why this
was done. We have analyzed the great machinery of the Inca dominion as it
lies broken and motionless. But endow the giant wheel with motion,
introduce systematical rotation into its every part, regulate the
occupations of the people by a fixed series of work-days and holidays.
Send them forth to their work and collect the products of their labor at
set intervals, _institute a calendar_, and you will have set the machinery
of state in motion and realized how the classification of individuals
according to rank, ages, and occupations was absolutely necessary in order
to obtain a successful and harmonious result. It has already been shown
that the institution of the calendar and establishment of twelve festival
periods of thirty days each, in a year, succeeded the division of the
people into groups and their assignment to fixed places of abode.
“They commenced to count the year in the middle of May, a few days more or
less, on the first day of the Moon ... in this month they held the
festivals of the Sun” (Molina ed. Hakluyt, p. 16). I direct particular
attention to the fact that it was the new May moon which controlled the
beginning of the religious calendar, although the Incas observed the
equinoxes and solstices and the cult of the Sun was under their special
care. The twelve divisions of the year accord with the twelve wards of
Cuzco surrounding the central enclosure which was always the place where
the festivals were held and the people congregated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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