Re-Change of Plans

We're back to focusing on the ploughing ritual (though still weaving in the origin myth). I spent the last three and a half hours searching through primary source documents (thank you eHRAF) trying to find an answer to the question of whether the ritual took place at Sausero, Collcampata, or both. From what I can tell, Sausero tends to be associated with Mama Huaco, and the maize from this field is said to be made into chicha for the cult of Mama Huaco. Collcampata, on the other hand, seems to be associated more with Manco Capac and the Sun. There is a version of the origin myth in which Manco Capac is said to adorn himself with silver and gold so that the people on distant mountains can see him glimmering and believe that he is the son of the Sun. I think we can say, then, that Sausero and Collcampata are separate but part of the same ritual; both are included in various account that mention that it is the first plouhing, and I found one account this morning (it referenced the harvest ritual but suggests continuity with the planting) that says that the ceremony started at Sausero and moved to fields of other deities, including Collcampata/the sun. We're getting closer!

Change of Plans

Brigitte and I just met to discuss our project and decided to change our focus slightly. Rather than trying to piece together "factual" information about how the sowing ritual and the anti-zenith relate and coming up with one quasi-definitive rendering of events, we will focus on the origin myth of Mama Huaco and Manco Capac, which will, we think, offer us more interpretive wiggle-room. If we focus on modeling our interpretation of the myth (which is, after all, a myth) based on various accounts and oral histories, we can still insert elements of the corn planting ritual as they relate to the first sowing by Mama Huaco and Manco Capac and discuss Mama Huaco's journey along the ceque/sight line of Quispicancha in relation to the anti-zenith sunset observation on August 18th as described by Zuidema.

Update: Ritual Confusion

As I have mentioned in class, I've been trying to come up with an account of the first corn planting ritual of the season, which seems to occur on August 18, the day of the anti-zenith. Bauer's account has the Inca king with four noblemen and their wives sewing seeds in the field of Sausero, which is near the (long-gone) Arco Punto and the fields in which Mama Huaco and Manco Capac were alleged to have sewn the first seed after defeating the jungle people. He says that they sing haylli (war songs) to celebrate their triumph over the earth, and a white llama with gold adornments is prepared in the center of the field for sacrifice. Guinea pigs are also sacrificed, according to Bauer's piecing together of stories, and the commoners all assemble and watch while everything is happening. Onlookers drink and pour chicha throughout the ritual. Bauer does not discuss the cosmological significance of this date in August; he does not mention the anti-zenith, as Zuidema was quick to point out, and he does not discuss the viewing of the sunset at Quispicancha from the Ushnu in the plaza or the ritual procession along the ceque that leads to Quispicancha (which Mama Huaco apparently traversed long ago). Zuidema also mentioned the Priests of the Sun (children of thunder), as well as the fact that the ritual took place on a field that was not intended for true agriculture.

I am attempting to reconcile these two very different conceptions of the ritual, from Zuidema's intensly astronomical/cosmological, ceque-oriented account to Bauer's ceremony-oriented, war-over-nature account. Brigitte and I are teaming up to get to the bottom of this (with Prof. Erickson's help), and I fear that we will either have to pick one account and stick to it (and accept that we are missing parts of the story), try to mesh multiple stories (at the expense of losing some factuality), or find a new ritual to study that has a better written record from which to draw information.

Corn(y)

I just read Bauer's account of the corn plowing ritual and the origin myth of Manco Capac and Mama Huaco, after which I read Zuidema's account of the Capac Raymi Camay Quilla feast. I was under the impression that both scholars would be describing the same ritual(s), but it seems like Bauer and Zuidema are talking about completely separate things. Perhaps Bauer just isn't getting into the astronomical specifics, but in Zuidema's telling there's little about corn, which is the essence of Bauer's piece. Either my expectations were false or my understanding is dim. Either way, I think that the plowing ritual sounds like something that would be really cool to model. We could capture the movement of plowing with motion capture/Maya, research/reproduce the sounds of the hailis being sung, model the 600 nobles lined up and the llamas and guinea pigs sacrificed, recreate/model the Arco Punto and the fields of Huanaypata and Sausero, reconstruct the ceremonial tunics depicted in the illustrations in Bauer, and more. We could even include a tutorial on chicha and perhaps link to/embed the video I found of the chew-and-spit process (on BoingBoing) or reconstruct the making of chicha ourselves.

With a little clarification on the compatibility/incompatibility of the Bauer/Zuidema discussions of the ritual, I think I'll be on the way to getting started producing the actual content for our final project!