great importance. As a rule, temples and priests were for these gods only and not for Viracocha, the creator of culture. Sacrifices and gifts were likewise to them and not to the latter. Below these gods stood innumerable objects invested with huaca, a term difficult to define, but seemingly equivalent to wakan and manitou, as used by the wilder tribes of North America. All these objects, or huaca, were the places of sacrifice and observance for which priests were detailed.
From what we know of Chibcha, Maya, and Nahua religions, this outline of Inca beliefs will serve as the type. Each had its creator, then the heavenly bodies to which sacrifices were made, and lastly a long array of fetish-like objects invested with some holy quality. Throughout, the political functions of the rulers were so closely intertwined with the priestly functions, that a strict separation of them is quite impossible. Thus, the Maya system provided a religious program for each day in the year, or a complete cycle of never-ending services. The great Maya calendar is essentially the recorded order of these ceremonies, rather than a dating device, the day being named after the god to be recognized in its particular form of worship. That an analogous calendar existed in Peru is most certain, but seems lost beyond recovery.
The present status of our subject makes it difficult to truly characterize the ceremonial patterns for these four great centers, but certain striking features may be noted. The Maya and Nahua are notorious for the extent of their human sacrifice systems. One common form of such sacrifice was to bind the victim to a frame or pole and shoot him full of darts. This was a custom in Colombia also. For Peru there is conflicting evidence, the Inca being credited with prohibiting the practice by some authorities, but it is clear that the custom did prevail at one time. We may infer, therefore, that such sacrifices were fundamental traits among the many small social groups from which these great military empires were built up. Human sacrifice, however, appears but as an exceptional element in a larger complex, for from Mexico to Chile throughout, there was a daily round of sacrifices of animals, birds, fruits, and inanimate objects.
