Native America

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Narrator

The foundation of these inner chambers still remain. But most of the temple was destroyed in the mid 1500s by the Spanish, who built a church on top of it. The Spanish destroyed many other huacas as well, but left a record of where they may have been. Spanish Colonial sources talk about at least 328 huacas in the Cusco landscape. And they suggest that they were single coherent system centered on the Coricancha in a series of up to 42 lines that radiated out of the Coricancha into the broader valley. (celestial music) -

Narrator

To the Inca, a Temple of the Sun is the center of the spiritual universe that radiates out across the empire. The lines connecting the huacas form a ceremonial network called ceques. (blows) (speaks in foreign language) -

Puma

When I come to a huaca, we activate the energy first. With prayers and with intentions. And we send that energy through these ceque systems. -

Narrator

Shamans like Puma continue an unbroken Inca spirituality, worshiping at these huacas. They offer sacred coca leaves, candy to signify the sweetness of life. In one of their most holy, ancient offerings, a stillborn llama fetus. The most important element in this offering is the llama fetus. It represents that which is yet to be born. We celebrate in our spirituality that we are constantly being reborn. (blows) The Inca pathway, the cabacnion, was marked by our Incan ancestors in order to lead people in the right way to service, to ceremony, and to communion. (speaks foreign language) -

Puma

What we put in these offerings is elements that connect us to the sun, to the moon and to Mother Earth.