Health and purification festival in the Inca Empire
The situa or citua (in Quechua situwa raymi) was the health and ritual purification festival in the Inca Empire. It was held in Cusco, the capital of the empire, during the month of September on the day of the first moon after the spring equinox, which in the southern hemisphere takes place normally on September 23. It was a very important festival whose rites are well described by the early Spanish chroniclers, in particular Cristóbal de Molina, Polo de Ondegardo and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The latter witnessed situas as a child after the Spaniards had reduced them to memorials of the actual Inca festival. The situa is also mentioned by Bernabé Cobo, who copied, most probably, its text from Molina,[1]: xxii Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and Juan de Betanzos.
The festival was held when the rain season had just begun and many illnesses tended to occur. Rituals to the Creator-god were thus executed both in Cusco and in other lands conquered by the Incas in order to purify them and "send the evil away".[1]: 30
The four days rites included offerings "rams" (that is llamas and alpacas), carefully chosen for their white color, to the deities,[2]: Ch VIII purification by bathing in the river water, lighting large straw torches (like large balls, called panconcos) and preparing and eating the ritual maize buns called sanco (sankhu in Quechua)[3]: sankhu whose dough was often mixed with blood. All were allowed to drink chicha (fermented beverage, corn beer) during the four days festival «without stopping».[2]: Ch VIII A great number of persons and beasts gathered in the main plaza of Cusco (Haucaypata), which in Inca times was much larger than the current Plaza de Armas.
Figures of the deities from the huacas (shrines) were carried to their respective temples they had in Cusco.
To obtain proper cleanliness of the city, all foreigners and with those with physical defects were banished from the city for a distance of two leagues.[1]: 31
According to Molina, Pachacuti Inca was the sovereign who defined the way the festival had to be performed, giving rules to an ancient tradition.[1]: 50
^ abcdBauer, Brian S.; Smith-Oka Vania; E. Cantarutti, Gabriel (editors) (2011) Account of the Fables and Rites of the Incas by Cristóbal de Molina - With an introduction by Brian S. Bauer - University of Texas Press - ISBN 978-0-292-72999-5
^ abOndegardo, Polo de (1559). Los errores y svpersticiones de los indios, sacadas del tratado y aueriguacion que hizo el licenciado Polo de Ondegardo - In "Informaciones acerca de la Religión y Gobierno de los Incas". Notas biográficas y concordancia de los textos por Horacio H. Urteaga, 1916 - Imprenta y Librería Sanmartí - Lima − Reprint 2017 as "Crónicas tempranas del siglo XVI - Volume II − El patrimonio hegemónico de la escritura: Descripciones historiográficas del Cusco (1542-1590)" - Ministerio de Cultura de Peru - Cusco- edited by Carlos Velaochaga Dam, Alejandro Herrera Villagra and Rafael Warthon Calero
^Comisión de la Academia Mayor de la lengua quechua (2005). Diccionario quechua - español - quechua - Gobierno Regional Cusco - Cusco – Second edition
The situa or citua (in Quechua situwa raymi) was the health and ritual purification festival in the Inca Empire. It was held in Cusco, the capital of...
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léxico como uma unidade monofonemática /kʷ/ e /ɡʷ/. O glide que, nete caso, situa-se no ataque não-ramificado, forma com a vogal seguinte um ditongo crescente...
signaling the beginning of the plowing season. In the month of Qoya Raymi the Situa, a ceremony of purification, was performed that started in Cuzco and expanded...
GAD3 da la mayoría absoluta a Almeida, confirma la desaparición de Cs y sitúa a PSOE como segunda fuerza". Europa Press (in Spanish). 1 November 2022...
de la ciudad de Madrid se ha incrementado en más de 53.200 personas y se sitúa cerca de 3.340.000 habitantes - Ayuntamiento de Madrid". www.madrid.es (in...
léxico como uma unidade monofonemática /kʷ/ e /ɡʷ/. O glide que, nete caso, situa-se no ataque não-ramificado, forma com a vogal seguinte um ditongo crescente...
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2019. "Así está la Bota de Oro: Cristiano Ronaldo empata con Mbappé y se sitúa a tres goles de Messi" (in Spanish). www.marca.com. 10 February 2019. Retrieved...
to Chile. Pachacuti was a poet and the author of the Sacred Hymns of the Situa city purification ceremony. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa attributed one song...
Madrid. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2014. "La prensa inglesa sitúa a De Gea en el radar del Manchester United" [The British press puts De Gea...
estudiantes internacionales". europapress.es. Retrieved 23 July 2015. "La UGR se sitúa como la segunda mejor universidad de España según la nueva edición del Ranking...
"Secretariat of Public Education (Mexico) | Government | gob.mx" (PDF). "Forbes sitúa a TECH como "la mejor universidad online del mundo"". www.diariodefuerteventura...
30 March 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2021. "Jenni Hermoso marca 6 goles y se sitúa Pichichi" (in Spanish). FC Barcelona. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2021...
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2019. "Así está la Bota de Oro: Cristiano Ronaldo empata con Mbappé y se sitúa a tres goles de Messi" (in Spanish). marca.com. 10 February 2019. Retrieved...
Sánchez". VozPópuli (in Spanish). 16 July 2023. "El nivel de abstención se sitúa entre los más bajos de las últimas 5 elecciones generales". La Voz de Galicia...
2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024. Pazos, Pablo (15 November 2023). "Jácome sitúa a su "alter ego" Armando Ojea como candidato de DO a la Xunta". ABC (in...
Barcelona". Metrópoli (in Spanish). 28 October 2022. "Una encuesta de Foment sitúa al PSC en cabeza en Barcelona". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 7 October 2022...