With a magical vision of the world, the cosmos and its powers, Inca astronomy designed testimonies that linked man with the universe.
In this way, they built astronomical observatories and structures to determine celestial events, which additionally had a relationship with agricultural activities and the celebration of festivities in honor of seasonal changes or the sun.
In Inca astronomy, the milky way or hatun mayu was a strip that constituted the celestial personification of the sacred river Wilca mayu that ran through the Sacred Valley.
Also, the different positions of the hatun mayu were important to establish the geographic axes of Tahuantinsuyo, that is, north, south, east, west, in addition, to link their own or regions with the capital and, accordingly, assign their role. geopolitical, in this sense, Cuzco was the navel of the world.
Commonly, the areas of the night sky that were not illuminated by stars, called dark constellations, for the Incas represented mythological beings of the animal world.
On the other hand, the bright stars that formed figures in the night sky had a sacred meaning, in this way, in the astronomy of the Inca culture the constellation of Sirius was the sacred star, that of Aldebarán the center star, the cluster of Ptolemy the mother corn, Lyra’s the small silver flame, Scorpio’s the sacred serpent, Ursa Major the giant jungle serpent, Orion’s the large chakana, and the Southern Cross the small chakana.
Within the concept of Inca astronomy, the stars that form the constellation of the Southern Cross served as inspiration to territorially divide the Tahuantinsuyo, as follows:
Gacrux represented Chinchaysuyo to the north.
Becrux constituted the Contisuyo to the west.
Decrux made up Antisuyo to the east.
Ácrux was located in Collasuyo to the south.
Justa Crucem established the city of Cuzco in the center.
Evidently the Incas also determined the solstices and equinoxes using a system of lines that started from Cuzco, called ceques, which were used to organize sanctuaries or huacas, which had political and religious functions, one of these places being the sukanqas, which determined the points of sunrise and sunset on the summer and winter solstices, were used to draw up the calendar that governed agricultural activities, rituals and celebrations.
Finally, being Inca astronomy the area most developed by this civilization, currently around it, there are different points of view of scientific interpretation.
Astronomy and Inca Religion
Astronomy and Inca religion was deeply linked to the sky and to the astro-deities of the Incas.
It is said that from the Temple of the Sun of Cusco (Qoriqancha), axes radiated whose disposition implied astronomical alignments that drew the Valley in more than 300 huacas that fulfilled religious and political functions.
Inca Astronomy Temple of the Sun and Inca Beliefs
In the Andean worldview there was no single God as in Western creeds, the Inca religion was polytheistic.
Among the most important are the gods Wiracocha (the creator), Inti (Sun God) and Pachamama (Mother Earth). The “minor” divinities were called Huacas, considered by the Spanish as demons.
Among the beliefs of the Incas is the conception of cyclical time (non-linear) as can be read in their fabulous myths -among them that of Huarochirí- which divides time into 4 ages where an attempt is made to explain the origin of the Inca people through different stories that relate the world of the gods (Hanan Pacha) with that of those “below” (Urin Pacha).
Importance of Astronomy for the Incas
By being directly related to their main economic support (agriculture), Inca astronomy acquired great importance for the Inca empire. They carefully observed the sun, managing to calculate the solstices and equinoxes, which are celebrated with the important festival of Inti Raymi (June and December).
Even in certain prominent places of the empire, inti watanas (“where the sun is tied”) stone solar observatories were built that are found in iconic sites such as Machu Picchu.
Also, their calendar was divided into 12 moons of 30 days each. Each “moon” corresponded to festivities, among which some of them are celebrated to this day.
Constellations of Animals Discovered by the Incas
The Incas managed to basically identify two types of constellations in the Hanan Pacha (the sky or outer space): the bright and the dark. The first, made up of stars (in the western way) that when united formed figures in the sky.
The second type of “dark” constellation was related to the gas and dust condensed in the Milky Way in which they identified dark spots (attributed by the Inca civilization to carbon spots), and it is there where they found constellations of animals, associated usually with the rainy season.
For the Incas, forms such as the “celestial flames”, the Partridge (Lluthu), the Toad (Hampatu), the Serpent (Machacuay), the Fox (Atoq) and the Southern Cross (Chakana) appeared.