The Incas did not trade with their neighbors; if a culture had something the Incas wanted or needed, they conquered it. Because the empire became so large, the Incas needed nothing that they did not have. But trade within the empire was brisk. All trading was on the barter system—trading goods or services for items considered by both parties to be of equal value. The Incas had no form of currency.
Inca communities produced a variety of food for the empire: corn and potatoes, quinoa, dried llama or fish, herbs, peppers, and hundreds of other foodstuffs. Different regions may have eaten different foods, but hunger was rare. Mountain people ate more guinea pig and llama meat;
coastal groups ate fish and seafood.
What trading that did occur took place within the empire at regional markets, where people traded cloth for llama skins, dried llama meat for dried fish, pottery for medicinal herbs, and so on. For example, if a woman with a sore eye needed medical care, she might pay four potatoes or a length of cloth for treatment by the local herbalist.
One factor that limited any potential trade was a lack of portation. The Incas did not have the wheel, so carts were not a trans-portation option. They did not have horses or oxen to bear heavy loads;
humans or llamas carried goods on their backs.
The Incas did have boats and rafts, but they were usually used for short-distance travel or for fishing. Rafts on mountain rivers and lakes were made of reeds and, occasionally logs, but they were not strong enough to bear heavy loads without sinking. Along the Pacific Ocean, larger ocean-going rafts, built from logs and sealskins, carried fishermen out to sea. They, too, did not carry heavy burdens, nor were they strong enough to travel over great distances.
LAZINESS WAS A CRIME IN THE INCA EMPIRE, SO WORK DOM-inated daily life. Inca subjects lived by two calendars: one diurnal (daytime) and the other nocturnal (nighttime). The diurnal calendar of 365 days—a solar calendar—set the work pattern for the empire, including specific agri-cultural activities, building projects, and warfare. The nocturnal calendar of 328 nights—a lunar calendar—determined the schedule of rituals and re-ligious celebrations. The fact that the two calendars did not have an equal number of days did not bother the Incas. What happened on the extra nights is not known.
Because the Inca Empire lay close to the equator, there were not four true seasons. Like many equatorial countries, the climate had only wet and dry seasons. However, the altitude in many Inca regions was so high that snow, ice, and blizzards were common.
December (Capac Raymi) started each new year. It was the time for planting coca, some types of potatoes, and quinoa. At night, the people cel-ebrated puberty rituals for boys reaching manhood. During this month, taxes, sacrifices, and gifts to the sapa inca arrived in Cuzco.
January (Camay Quilla) saw farmers preparing their fields; men and women worked side-by-side with wooden ploughs and hoes. The noctur-nal calendar continued puberty ceremonies, often spanning three weeks or more. Late summer—February (Hatun Pucuy) and March (Pacha Pucuy)—
brought forth harvests of potatoes, jicama, and other root vegetables. At night, rites and sacrifices were made to improve corn and grain crop yields.
April (Ayrihua) found peasants shooing deer, foxes, and birds from the corn fields to stop them from eating crops needed to feed families.
Living Among the Incas
o p p o s i t e Footsteps of the Inca Quechua women walk past an area that has been terraced for farming, on a hillside above Pisac in Peru.
Both the terraces and the road were built by the Inca.
Farmers pounded loud drums and hurled pebbles at hungry birds with their slings to protect crops as they ripened for harvest. At night, com-moners took part in ceremonies to honor their leader, the sapa inca.
May (Aymoray Quilla) brought the corn harvest and celebrations much like our present-day Thanksgiving.
June (Inti Raymi) celebrated the Inca sun god each evening after days spent digging potatoes and tu-bers and planting new crops. July (Chahua Harquiz) was the heart of the Inca winter; however, work continued despite the hardship of cold and sometimes even snow.
Meats were smoked or dried, pota-toes were freeze-dried for storage, and men served their mit’as by building and repairing irrigation ditches and canals. Religious rituals were offered in honor of irrigation, since most of the crops eaten by the people of the Inca Empire de-pended on irrigation systems. It was only natural for the people to ask their gods to bless the systems that carried life-giving water to their fields.
A spring-like season crept in slowly as August (Yapaquiz) and September (coya Raymi) began the planting season. Farmers used foot hoes to turn the winter-hardened soil, planting corn seeds and early potato crops. Grains and other crops were planted after the corn and potato crops were secure. Nocturnal religious rites during this season ensured the help of the Inca gods in providing good crops and controlling the negative el-ements of nature. During coya Raymi, rites were also offered to cleanse and purify the capital city of Cuzco.
Under Inca rule, only nobles grew and possessed coca.
They could and did give it to commoners at celebrations or to people unaccustomed to working at high altitudes.
The coca was chewed, releasing stimulating drugs into the saliva that relieved numerous ailments.
Today, Andean people still rely on coca leaves in reli-gious rituals and as a folk medicine. The leaves are of-fered as part of a gift to ancient gods and are “read” by seers who claim to tell the future. More importantly, coca serves as an herbal medicine in a region where doctors are scarce. Coca is brewed in tea to relieve headaches and dizzy spells and to heal sore throats and upset stomachs.
The tea helps people suffering from altitude sickness.
Herbal healers make poultices (medicated masses placed on sores or wounds) to place on rheumatic joints or bone injuries.
Coca is also the plant from which drug dealers make cocaine. Coca plants grown in Peru fall under the control of the government, and the Coca National Enterprise sells the leaves for herbal use and the manufacture of pre-scription drugs. Unfortunately, small farmers also grow coca for illegal sale, because one year’s cocaine crop can be sold for enough money to feed, clothe, and house a large family for a year. One year’s corn crop, on the other hand, does not feed the family for a full winter.
Coca!
C O N N E C T I O N S >>>>>>>>>>>>
October (K’antaray) and November (Ayamarca) were dedicated to promoting good crops, as the people prayed for ample rain—but not too much. Historically, Ayamarca saw little rain, and farmers began using ir-rigation ditches to water the corn crops. This season honored the dead at a festival where mummies of earlier sapa incas were brought from their homes on golden litters and offered gifts of gold, cloth, and food.