For all articles that could be used to check against all the "Andean shamans" and spiritual tourism sites out there.
http://www.history.pdx.edu/hdwp/religion/andes2.html"Modern Andean religious expression in an historical context
Descendants of those people who were living in the Andes of South America before the New World first had contact with Europe still reside there today. These indigenous groups have roots going back to the Incan empire and beyond. The topic addressed here relates to those descendants who still live relatively separate from the immigrant populations that have inhabited these areas, more specifically to those people in Peru and Bolivia. Although they are not part of large organized religions, their belief systems are still important when considering contemporary religious expression in Latin America. Many small groups keep to themselves and discreetly follow their traditional beliefs outside of the greater social and political stage.
....When studying isolated indigenous communities whose practices and ideas may not be considered of a "Western" tradition, it becomes more difficult to separate religious beliefs and expressions from social ritual and custom. Daily life and cyclical activities, like farming, take on meanings that are difficult for outside observers to separate into purpose and function. Delegating the cleaning of common village space might appear to serve a simple functional role, but the meanings and consequences might also have strong religious relevance. Therefore, when researchers write about social and cultural activities there is often a recognized or unrecognized religious side to what they are studying. Beliefs about how people should behave with one another as derived from what we would call religion may manifest themselves in ways that do not specifically warrant the label "religious expression."
....The groups in Peru and Bolivia are descended from the Inca, who did not have a written language. Since their beliefs were transmitted orally, it is difficult to say for sure what their ancestors, the Inca, actually believed and to what extent those beliefs are important to them today (Barnes, 1992, pp. 67-81). Other traditions of the Inca besides oral messages are very relevant to belief systems. Physical place was of high importance. This can be observed in the ceque system around Cusco and similarly organized areas in Bolivia. The small and varied places of worship within these systems were defined and built long ago. As documented by Bauer (1998, pp. 31-33) and Hadingham (1987, pp. 243-260), these historically determined places and ideas are very important in current beliefs and worship.
Hadingham (1987, pp. 230-231) describes the series of straight, distinct lines called ceques covering the landscape around Cusco and on the Altiplano of Bolivia.
The Coricancha (Golden Enclosure) is an ancient temple located at the center of the Cusco ceque system. Now standing over the remains is the church of Santo Domingo.
Where the lines exist, the plant life (if there is any) breaks away to form a corridor of several feet in width. If there is little plant life then the lines are demarcated by a physical change in the ground itself for the corridor from being trampled down. These lines vary in length, but can be tens of miles long. They have survived over hundreds of years due to the dry climate of the area. Interspersed among the system of ceques are shrines or huacas. According to Bauer (1998, pp. p. 23) these huacas take different forms, from water springs to stacks of rock to ravines or other natural physical forms. To the people that worship the huacas, each shrine embodies a supernatural force or spirit whose existence and behavior is important in their lives.
Categorization of the Cusco Ceque System Huacas
Physical nature Number of huacas Percentage of total (328)
springs or sources of water 96 29%
standing stones 95 29%
hills and mountain passes 32 10%
palaces of the royal Incas and temples 28 9%
fields and flat places 28 9%
tombs 10 3%
ravines 7 2%
others* 16 5%
unclear category** 16 5%
*others include caves, quarries, stone seats, sunset markers, trees, and roads
**existing records are so unclear about some huacas that categorization is impossible
Source: Bauer, B.S. 1998. The Sacred Landscape of the Inca
According to Hadingham (1987, pp. 252) the power of the huacas that people were so concerned with related to the weather. In the dry Andean regions of the Incan empire moisture and weather were very important to the survival of crops, and therefore important to the survival and prosperity of the people. In visiting the spirits embodied in the huacas, one thing people would seek was information about weather. This communication took the form of prayer and burnt offerings. Shells were and are often important in the offering because of their relation to the sea; the source of moisture. Sea shells were associated with fertility. It is unclear exactly how the spirits of the huacas controlled the weather, but the fact that this was their subject of importance is not very surprising given the importance of weather in the region and even the importance of praying for good weather in other societies throughout history.
When the Spanish came upon the Incan empire they sought to change the methods of religious practice they found there. Bauer (1998, pp. 5) argues that the Spanish did not approve of the worship they found so they tried to destroy it. When they found people worshiping huacas, or heard reports of such activity, they punished the people and destroyed the huaca as much as they could. (Many huacas were just distinct geographical features like springs or small hills and therefore hard to destroy.) Thus, the social and religious structures of the Incan empire were overturned. The strong promotion of Christianity in the communities of the native peoples affected their religious stories. Classen (1993. pp. 139-142) asserts that the attempts at acculturation by outside influences led to the creation of new myths or religious stories to reconcile the efforts of the Christian Spaniards with the religion of the indigenous peoples. Another interesting long term effect that will be noted later as well is the association of huacas and native traditions with Christian saints and festivals."
