Waman Kantaq (also as: Wamancantac, Guamancantac, Guamancanfac, Vuamancancantac or Vamancantac) was considered the god of guano by the various peoples located in the coastal areas of ancient Peru.
Etymology
editThere is no precise knowledge about the meaning of the name Waman Kantaq. However, its name has a Quechua term: Waman (falcon).[1]
Regarding the term Cantaq or Cantac, according to ethnohistorian Marco Curatola Petrocchi, this term is similar to Kamaq (creator, maker, the one who animates and/or grants life). Therefore, Waman Kantaq can be understood as "the one who animates the falcons".[2]
Representation
editIt is known that Waman Kantaq was a wak'a, but no details are known about his appearance. However, it is worth mentioning that, despite being a god associated with guano and guano birds, his name has the Quechua term: Huamán (hawk). Therefore, it is possible that Waman Kantaq was represented by a bird of prey.[1]
Function
editThe function of Waman Kantaq was to provide guano for those who begged for it.
Before receiving the guano, the people who implored the favor of Waman Kantaq had to risk sailing in their boats to the island of the divinity. Once there, an offering was made to the divinity to allow the extraction of the precious substrates. The guano bird droppings were used for agricultural purposes.[3]
In his work La extirpación de la idolatría en el Perú, Father Arriaga offers more details on the subject:[3] [4]
«And in the town of Huacho when they went by the Huano to the Islands, which are the cliffs of Huaura, they made a sacrifice by pouring chicha on the beach, so that the rafts would not upset them, preceding two days of fasting, and when they arrived at the island, they worshipped the Huaca, Huamancántac as the lord of Huano, and they offered him offerings so that he would let them take the Huano, and when they returned to the port they fasted for two days, and then they would dance, sing, and drink.»
— La extirpación de la idolatría en el Perú, Capítulo V
Characteristics of their cult
editThe wak'as and the cult of the dead
editIn a letter of the Province of Peru, dated 1613, from the Archives of the Society of Jesus in Rome, some rites and beliefs collected in the city of Huacho are described. According to this source, the coastal peoples believed that the abode of the souls lay in those places where the wak'as that they particularly adored were found.
The same source uses the figure of the god Waman Kantaq to exemplify the above mentioned. More specifically, the text exhibits the following:[5] [6]
«Others say that the souls have as their dwelling place in the afterlife the guaca that they worshipped in this one, particularly one that is on an island six leagues out to sea, called Waman Kantaq, where they are taken by some very black sea lions that abound in that place, and they believe this so strongly that they consider it a grave sin to kill these wolves, which in their mother tongue they call Tumi..»
According to the above description, it is thought that the island of Waman Kantaq could be the island of Mazorca, which is located about 33 km (six leagues) south of the city of Huacho, belonging to the archipelago known as the Huaura Group.[3]
Guano extraction
editWithin the source of the Archives of the Society of Jesus, more details about the process of obtaining guano can be found. In this regard, this document provides the following information:[3] [6]
«They had for main sanctuary to Waman Kantaq, the island of which mention was made and thus for and ralla the first time that one yba they prepared with long aiunos and in leaving the port they offered him the first sacrifice of chicha and other things, the second in another ysleta that they call the ventilla (because they stop there for that effect) and the third at the foot of the same island. Then the sorcerer makes the main sacrifice and orders them not to speak except in their mother tongue or spit out of reverence and also to refrain from saying Jesus. When the sacrifice is finished and the raft is loaded with dung of sea birds (which is the purpose for which they are going, since there is a great abundance of it) they return to land where the old women are waiting for them with hot water in new pots and with it and some cotton balls they wash the whole body of the one who again went to the island so that none of the divine dust that he brought from the guaca remains, and all those who are there dance, drink, sing and invoke the guaca all night, persuaded that if they sleep (even if it is very little) they will pay with their lives and then this one who went the first time fasts ten days and this fast has moderated from a few years to this part that used to be six and ten months.»
See also
edit- Guano
- Mazorca Island
- Inca Mythology
- Tallan
References
edit- ^ a b María Rostworowski. "Las islas de litoral peruano" (PDF). Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ "Resultados de la prospección arqueológica en la isla San Lorenzo - el Callao, Perú" (PDF). Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Más allá del litoral: el papel de las islas en el paisaje cultural marítimo del Perú". Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ Pablo José de Arriaga. "La extirpación de la idolatría en el Perú" (PDF). Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ Mario Polia Meconi (1999). La cosmovisión religiosa andina en los documentos inéditos del Archivo Romano de la Compañía de Jesús (1581-1752). Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Fondo Editorial. ISBN 978-9972-42-170-9. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
- ^ a b Pierre Duviols. "La Capacocha: mecanismo y función del sacrificio humano, su proyección geométrica, su papel en la política integracionista y en la economía redistributiva del Tawantinsuyu". Retrieved 20 January 2024.