Since ancient times, people have watched the movement of heavenly bodies. Sometimes these observations were purely practical (for example, in Oceania). More often the movements of celestial bodies were given a mystical meaning. The Incas were no exception in this regard.
According to legend, the creator god Viracocha created the Sun, Moon and stars from the islands on Lake Titicaca. The Sun (Inti) and the Moon (Kilya) were endowed with divine status. The stars performed a protective function. Each animal, bird, any living creature was patronized by its own star.
The Incas attached great importance to star clusters. The constellation of the Pleiades (Seven Children), according to beliefs, influenced the health and behavior of animals. It did not have the status of the supreme deity, but was perceived as an ancestor or a place of power, to which the priests made sacrifices.
However, the most important object in the night sky was the Milky Way, which was perceived as a celestial river that continued its course on earth with the waters of Urubamba in the Cuzco region. The importance of this river can hardly be overestimated, because it was believed that even the heat of the Sun depends on how much it is saturated with its waters when it passes its night path under its bottom.
Spots of interstellar dust and gases in the Milky Way are precipitated into so-called dark constellations, which were significantly more significant to the Incas than star clusters. As the Milky Way moves across the night sky, these black figures, taking on the images of various animals, seem to chase each other.
Ritual vessel in the form of a snake, Inca, 15-16 centuries. AD Collection The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
One of these dark constellations - the Serpent Machakuai - was considered the patron saint of all serpents on earth, including the mythical serpent Amaru, often depicted as a rainbow. The symbolism of the snake was associated with fertility, moisture. It was believed that these reptiles can predict the future and are able to suggest the correct way out of difficult situations.
Small bowl with images of a frog, Inca, 1450-1532 AD Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.
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The dark constellation of the toad - the patron saint of agriculture. The croaking of toads foreshadowed abundant rains and a good harvest, and it also boded good luck. The appearance of this dark constellation in the night sky served as a reference point for the start of sowing work.
Vessel, Chimu / Inca, 1430-1530 AD Collection of the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The dark constellation of the partridge or tinamu (a small bird resembling a partridge) faces the toad with its head. Toads are part of the tinamu diet. This dark constellation appears in October and disappears in July when the root crop season in the Cuzco region ends.
The figure of a lama, Inca. Collection of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.
The dark constellation of the black lama was considered the patron saint of sacred sacrificial lamas on earth. The dark constellation itself consists of two lamas: a mother and a child. The stars Alpha and Beta Centauri are the eyes of the mother lama.
A vessel depicting a man and a lama, Inca (?), Circa 1500 AD Collection of the National Museum of the American Indian under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution.
The dark constellation of the shepherd is right behind the fox. The shepherd threw up his hands in the air, trying to fulfill his function as the protector of celestial lamas and scare away the predator. The fox has its back turned to the shepherd and, as it were, runs away from him.
It is interesting that the movement of dark constellations across the sky is directly related to the behavior of terrestrial animals. Thus, these heavenly dark spots take on life. Machakuai is best seen in the sky in August and disappears in February, which coincides with the season of the most active snakes. The appearance of the dark constellation of the fox in the firmament coincides with the appearance of the offspring of these animals. This feature strongly distinguishes the astronomical ideas of the Incas from European ones, where clusters of stars could bear the names of creatures, the connection with which in the real world was rather mystical.