Mama Quilla (
Quechua ''mama'' mother, ''killa'' moon, "Mother Moon", hispanicized spelling ''Mama Quilla''), in
Inca mythology and
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
, was the third power and
goddess of the moon. She was the older sister and wife of
Inti
INTI International University & Colleges are private university colleges located in Malaysia. The main campus was initially known as INTI University College until 31 May 2010 when the Higher Education Ministry announced its upgrade to universi ...
, daughter of
Viracocha and mother of
Manco Cápac
Manco Cápac ( Quechua: ''Manqu Qhapaq'', "the royal founder"), also known as Manco Inca and Ayar Manco was, according to some historians, the first governor and founder of the Inca civilization in Cusco, possibly in the early 13th century.Presc ...
and
Mama Uqllu ''(Mama Ocllo)'', mythical founders of the
Inca
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...
empire and culture. She was the goddess of marriage and the
menstrual cycle
The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs ...
, and considered a defender of women. She was also important for the Inca
calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a phy ...
.
Myths surrounding Mama Killa include that she cried tears of silver and that
lunar eclipses
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth' ...
were caused when she was being attacked by an animal. She was envisaged in the form of a beautiful woman and her temples were served by dedicated priestesses.
It is possible that word quilla is a borrowing from
Puquina language explaining thus why genetically unrelated languages such as Quechua,
Aymara and
Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
have similar words for the Moon.
Similitudes are not only linguistic but also symbolically as in
Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
and Central Andean cosmology the Moon (Quilla/Cuyen) and the Sun (Inti/Antu) are spouses.
Beliefs
Mama Killa was known as "Mother Moon", and was goddess of the moon.
[D'Altroy, p. 148.] According to Father
Bernabé Cobo, writing in the mid-sixteenth century, the Moon was worshipped because of her "admirable beauty" and the "benefits she bestows upon the world".
She was important for calculating the passage of time and the calendar, because many rituals were based upon the
lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, t ...
and adjusted to match the
solar year
A tropical year or solar year (or tropical period) is the time that the Sun takes to return to the same position in the sky of a celestial body of the Solar System such as the Earth, completing a full cycle of seasons; for example, the time f ...
.
She also oversaw marriage, women's
menstrual cycles and was deemed the protector of women in general.
Myths surrounding Mama Killa
One myth surrounding the Moon was to account for the "
dark spots"; it was believed that a fox fell in love with Mama Killa because of her beauty, but when he rose into the sky, she squeezed him against her, producing the patches.
The Incas would fear
lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Ear ...
s as they believed that during the eclipse, an animal (possibly a
mountain lion or serpent
) was attacking Mama Killa. Consequently, people would attempt to scare away the animal by throwing weapons, gesturing and making as much noise as possible. They believed that if the animal achieved its aim, then the world would be left in darkness. This tradition continued after the Incas had been converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
by the
Conquistadors
Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, ...
, which the Spanish used to their advantage. The natives showed the Spanish great respect when they found that they were able to predict when the eclipses would occur.
Mama Killa was also believed to cry tears of silver.
Relations
Mama Killa was generally the third deity in the
Inca pantheon, after
Inti
INTI International University & Colleges are private university colleges located in Malaysia. The main campus was initially known as INTI University College until 31 May 2010 when the Higher Education Ministry announced its upgrade to universi ...
(god of the sun) and Illapu (god of thunder),
but was viewed as more important than Inti by some coastal communities, including by the
Chimú.
Relatives of Mama Killa include her younger brother and husband Inti, god of the sun, and her children
Manco Cápac
Manco Cápac ( Quechua: ''Manqu Qhapaq'', "the royal founder"), also known as Manco Inca and Ayar Manco was, according to some historians, the first governor and founder of the Inca civilization in Cusco, possibly in the early 13th century.Presc ...
, first ruler of the Incas, and Mama Ocllo, Manco Cápac’s older sister and wife.
After the
Ichma, nominally of the
Chimú Empire, joined the Inca empire, she also became the mother of their deity
Pacha Kamaq.
Mama Killa's mother was said to be
Viracocha.
Symbology and temples
Mama Killa had her own temple in
Cusco
Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; ...
, served by priestesses dedicated to her.
She was imagined as a human female,
and images of her included a silver disc covering an entire wall.
See also
*
List of lunar deities
A lunar deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The following is a list of lunar deities:
African
American Aztec mytholo ...
Sources
* D'Altroy, T.N. (2002) ''The Incas'', Blackwell Publishing: Oxford. .
* Pugh, Helen ''Intrepid Dudettes of the Inca Empire'' (2020)
References
{{reflist
Inca goddesses
Lunar goddesses
Mother goddesses
Incest in mythology