Above illustration: inca god - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Brooklyn_Museum_-_Atahualpa,_Fourteenth_Inca,_1_of_14_Portraits_of_Inca_Kings_-_overall.jpg
Births and Childhood
The birth of a child was a very welcome event in Inca culture. There were rituals for both parents to perform to ensure the safe delivery of an infant. Pregnant mothers were expected to keep working up to the day they gave birth.
Inca childhood was harsh compared to today's standards. When a child was born, the Inca would wash the baby in cold water and wrap it in a quilt and carry it in a sling. Later, the baby was put in a pit in the ground as a simple playground.
The parents did not immediately name the baby which occurred later, during a ceremony called rutichikoy which accompanied the baby's weaning from breast feeding. At this ceremony the baby received a a haircut, a fingernail trim and a name.
At age fourteen, or puberty, boys earned a loincloth woven by their mother in a ceremony called huarachicoy to mark their manhood.
Girls had similar small family ceremonies called quichicoy which marked the beginning of menstruation.
At these ceremonies boys and girls received their new, adult names.
Courtship and Marriage
Incan women were typically married at the age of sixteen. Men married at the age of 20. In Inca society, due to economic regulations, men of lower rank could only have one wife. The aristocracy, starting with the curaca, were allowed to engage in polygamy (more than one wife)
Trial marriages were typical within Inca culture. In this type of marriage, the man and woman would agree to try out being married to one another for a few years. At the end of this time, the woman could go home to her parents if she wished, and her husband could also send her home if he did not think it would work out. However, once the marriage was made final, they could only divorce if the woman was childless.
Women would almost always marry men in the same social class as themselves. However, while it was very rare for them to marry a man with a higher social ranking, it was still possible for some young women. The only way for a young woman to alter her social ranking would be if a man of higher ranking took notice of her.
In the Inca society, a wedding was not a joyous celebration. Instead, it was looked at more as a business-like agreement. Therefore, for the Inca, marriage was an economic agreement between two families. Once a woman was married, she was expected to collect food and cook, watch over the animals and the children. A woman’s household obligations would not change after she became pregnant. When she did find out she was pregnant she prayed and made offerings to an Inca god, Kanopa.
During those days a young man could not choose her girl himself. If he liked a young girl, he showed his interest to the girl. But he could not meet the girl openly. So he would meet her when she was getting her water from spring, or at some other place. If she also showed her interest, then usually that young man asked his parents to speak to the parents of the girl. Once a year the village governors lined up the young men and girls set by the parents for him. Sometime it could happen, same girl could be chosen by more than one boy. In that case the governor would make the final decision. He would listen to the parents of the boys and the parents of the girl. After that he would decide which boy will marry which girl.
After this program each pair of the family started to arrange their wedding ceremonies. It could begin with the parents of the young man visiting the young ladies house. After reaching the house of the bride, first groom knelt down before the bride and out a shoe on her right foot. This act would make everybody understand that the young man was ready to serve the lady for the rest of his life. Then both the families went to the groom's house. Someone old and knowledgeable of the village was invited to the groom’s house. He would speak on the marital behavior. But before he started, the bride would give some presents to the groom, which would include a metal pin for the cape, a headband and a woollen shirt. Once the groom put on the clothes, they sat together to listen to the old person. Sometime this man could be the relative of this family, or he could be just from the village. During the speech all the women present prepared the feast. So when the talk finished bride, groom and the guests joined the feast.
After the feast they would have started a new life in a new home just build by the groom and his relatives for them.
Death and Funerals
The Incas believed in an afterlife. The family held a funeral for eight days, mummified their dead. Women in mourning wore wore black clothes for about a year with their hair cut very short. The bodies and tombs of the dead were carefully tended. The mummies of dead rulers remained in their palaces. These rulers were treated as if they were still alive. Servants brought them things. Their family consulted them for advice on daily affairs. On parade days and other special occasions, their mummies were carried through the streets. The very poor simply set the dead body out in the cold in above ground tombs. The Incas could enter and reenter these tombs, leaving gifts of food and belongings, retrieving these gifts if needed. After death it was believed that the two souls which inhabited each person would take different routes. One would return to its place of origin, dependent upon the virtues of the dead, on the kind of death one had, as well as on the dead person's social and economical condition. The other soul remained in the body which was preserved intact and mummified.