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
Dr. Boas distinguishes “three classes of tribal names and of clan names,
viz., such as are collective forms of the names of the ancestors, names
taken from the region inhabited by the tribe or clan and names of
honour.... Each clan derives its origin from a mythical ancestor ... the
present system of tribes and clans is of recent growth ... their numbers
have undergone considerable changes in historical times.” A careful study
of the material presented by Dr. Boas shows, however, that the
ground-plans of the entire social fabric reared by the Kwakiutl Indians
closely resembles that on which the stately Maya, Mexican and Peruvian
civilizations were reared.
Returning to Peru, it is particularly noteworthy that the above mentioned
solemn sacrifices to the Creator, the Sun and Thunder, and Moon and Earth,
held in November, were thus offered to them jointly in one consecrated
place, whereas, at other seasons, the cult was performed separately and on
different days, before the emblems of the Above and Below.
Notwithstanding the moderation and tolerance which seem to have been
characteristic of the Inca government, and the apparent equality and
accord of the two cults, the heads of which were the Inca and Coya, we
find evidences of discord in the historical records. The Inca empire had
scarcely been established for more than a few centuries(23) when we
discern signs of a serious rebellion under the leadership of the
Chuchi-capac, the chief of the Southern province or Colla-suyu, pertaining
to the Below. From the taunts he uttered in the presence of the Inca on a
festive occasion and which have been recorded verbally by Salcamayhua, it
is clear that the chief of the Collas asserted that he (and the people of
his province) actually practised sun-cult although “his throne was of
silver;” that is to say, notwithstanding the fact that moon-cult pertained
to the quarter to which he was assigned, namely, to the Below. He
justifies his departure from moon-cult by taunting the Inca that he, in
turn, did not adhere strictly to sun-cult but worshipped the impersonal
Creator. This struggle between the ancient native sun-cult and star-cult
and this religious dissension, the reason for which is apparent, initiated
the long period of internal strife and warfare which ultimately made the
Spanish Conquest such an easy matter.
During the course of these wars the Peruvian Inca, on one occasion,
avenged himself for a supposed insult by having drums made of the skins of
some of the enemies’ messengers and by sending back others of these
“dressed as women,” that is to say degraded from their positions as
warriors or noblemen to the ranks of the commoners. A similar degradation,
inflicted upon the Tlatelolcan rebels by the Mexicans has already been
mentioned and can only be fully understood when the class-system is
recognized.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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