Huirakhocha and his mystical performance

This tale has been adapted from the original for modern readers.

In the tradition told by many Andean people, Huirakhocha rose out of Lake Titicaca at the beginning of the world. He made heaven and earth, formed human beings, and set a lord over them to govern. Then he returned to the lake. But when the people failed to follow the rules he had given them, he emerged again from the waters, this time with companions, and travelled to Tiahuanacu. There, angered by disobedience, he punished the guilty, turning those who had lived in darkness into stone. He then commanded the sun, the moon, and the stars to rise at once and take their places in the sky, to give light to the world. They say he made the moon brighter than the sun, and that the sun, jealous of this, struck the moon’s face with ashes as they climbed, which is why the moon still looks darkened. After that, Huirakhocha shaped many peoples and nations from clay. He marked out what each would wear, how they would look, and how they would keep their hair. He gave every nation its own language to speak, its songs to sing, and the seeds and foods it would plant. When all was prepared, he breathed life and spirit into them, men and women alike, and ordered each people to go down into the earth. From there they were to emerge in the places he appointed, and so, they say, some came out of caves, others from hills, others from rivers and lakes, each beginning their line from that first place of appearing. In memory of this, each people kept the style of dress they had been given. Some of the first beings were said to have been changed again, into stones, or into hawks, condors, and other animals and birds, and these became sacred sites and forms that people honoured.

When this was done, Huirakhocha sent his companions out across the land, each to a certain region, to call the people forth from the places where they were hidden and to send them to settle where they were meant to live. At the word of these messengers, the called peoples came out from caves, rivers, lagoons, and hills, and they spread out to populate the places named to them. Two companions remained with Huirakhocha at Tiahuanacu. He ordered one to go towards Condesuyo and the other towards Andesuyo, and to cry out for the people of those regions to come forth. Then he himself set out for Kusco, calling to the people along the way, summoning those who lived among caves and mountains. Near Cacha, the local people came out armed. They did not recognise him, and they tried to kill him. In response, he called down fire from the sky, and it burned through the places held by the rebels. Terrified, they threw down their weapons, fell at his feet, and begged forgiveness. Seeing their fear and their regret, Huirakhocha took a staff, walked towards the flames, and with a few blows made the fire die away. In recognition of what had happened, the people raised a great temple there and placed an image of him, and they brought offerings of gold and silver.

Huirakhocha went on. At the Tambo de Urcus he climbed to a high place and, from that height, called out the people who were to settle the surrounding land. On that summit the Indians built another sacred place, and set an image of Huirakhocha upon a golden seat. From there he travelled to Kusco, where he appointed a lord to govern the local people, a man named Alcahuisa. Then he went on to Puerto Viejo, where he met those companions who had gone ahead to wait for him. Together they walked out onto the sea as if it were solid ground, and they went on until they vanished from sight.