Sobre el autor y la obra
-
Es
anónimo
o
Posibles
autores: Francisco de Ávila y su asistente, Tomás
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Hay
varias ediciones, porque el texto original es en quechua, y lo tuvieron que
traducir. La edición más aceptada es la de Gerald Taylor.
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Es un
libro sagrado de los Andes peruanos.
Comps
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Suggested
reading: "Introducción," Capítulos 1-5, 9, 12, 16
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Questions:
o
A
comparison (thematic, aesthetic, ideological) of indigenous literatures (Popol Wuj, Warochirí, Ollantay) to other
colonial texts (Las Casas, Colón, Cortés, Díaz del Castillo, Vaca)
o Similarities and
differences between indigenous self-representations Popol Wuj, Warochirí, Ollantay, Guamán Poma de Ayala and El Inca
Garcilaso de la Vega.
“Personajes”
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Yanañamca
– huaca antiguo (ancient god) (Capítulo 1)
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Tutañamca
– huaca antiguo (Cap. 1)
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Huallallo
Carhuincho – huaca, he gave strength to men (Cap. 1)
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Pariacaca
– huaca (Cap. 1, 5, 9, 16)
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Cuniraya
Huiracocha – huaca, men prayed to him for help before doing work; he
often disguised himself as a poor man, he had a kid with Cahuillaca (Cap. 1, 2)
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Cahuillaca – huaca virgin that Cuniraya had a
kid with (Cap. 2)
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Huatiacuri – poor man who was Pariacaca’s son
and saw his birth… (Cap. 5)
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Tamtañamca – powerful and arrogant man (Cap. 5)
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Pachachuyro – Pariacaca’s son (Cap. 9)
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Chucpaico – Pariacaca’s oldest son (Cap. 12)
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Tutayquire – Pariacaca’s son, the bravest of all
(Cap. 12)
Temas/Ideas importantes
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Estilo de escritura
o
First person narration – author speaks in terms
of “we,” and refers to what he has discussed so far. He tells the old
stories/traditions in third person narration (because he’s not a character in
the old myths…)
o
Organized thematically
o
Some quechua words are “untranslatable” and are
left in original language
o
Enfoque
en el pasado (“en aquella época”)
o
Tono
coloquial
§ Ex: “Nueve meses más tarde, como suele
suceder con las mujeres…” (Cap. 2)
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How does the author talk about the indigenous
people?
o
He’s very factual and precise
o
Describes the myths and traditions in a
matter-of-fact tone
o
Speaks about their different religious beliefs
(Christian vs. indigenous), but isn’t necessarily critical – maintains same
factual tone
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La
religión (el cristianismo vs. la religión indígena)
o
La
importancia de los huacas
§ Ellos son quienes dan la fuerza vital a
los hombres
o
La
nota al final del capítulo 3 sobre la diferencia de opinión entre los
cristianos y los no-cristianos (historia similar a la del arco de Noé)
o
Al
final del capítulo 4 – “Nosotros los cristianos consideramos que se trata de la
obscuridad que acompañó la muerte de nuestro señor Jesucristo. Los demás,
aunque todavía no son cristianos convencidos, dicen que también lo creen
posible”
o
In chapter 9 – Christian aside: says that the
Indians adore a demon, and that since they have only been with the religious
Spaniard Francisco de Avila a few years, they still don’t believe the Christian
faith in their hearts. Many converted to Christianity out of fear alone, and
they pray the rosary but still believe in the Indian religion. Although many don’t
actively practice the old rites anymore, they pay someone to practice them in
their place.
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Metafiction
o
I don’t know if it really counts as metafiction,
but the narrator is openly telling stories, and often refers to the
storytelling process in the middle of it all.
o
Example:
“(Este cuento, hasta el restablecimiento de la mujer, es muy largo. Lo
transcribiremos después. Ahora vamos a volver al relato anterior)” (Cap. 5)
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Concern for the origin of things and explanations
of why things are the way they are
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Apuntes (por capítulo)
Introducción por Gerald Taylor
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There’s
a collection of texts related to the indigenous religión of the Andes,
which is kept in the National library of Madrid. It’s possible that these texts
belonged to Francisco de Avila, an “extirpador de idolatrías” (exterminator of
idolatry? Haha) because he has made many notes in the margins and one of his
own texts (describing Indian culture and traditions) was included with the
collection.
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Francisco de Avila traveled between the small
towns of South America trying to eradicate idolatry. He went accompanied by
Indians who were “moved by God” to help him, since he didn’t understand the
language. In these explorations, he learned a lot more about the culture and
traditions of the Indians.
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Avila started writing a text about the culture
and traditions of the Indians he came in contact with, but stopped after the
first few chapters. He knew it was important, so it is probable that he gave
the text to one of his assistants to finish – maybe “Tomás,” a name that is in
the margins of one of the manuscripts.
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Whoever wrote the manuscript for this text
(Huarochirí) knew various languages, including quechua and other indigenous
ones.
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The author (Tomás?) transcribed the cultural
information he was told by the indigenous people, and then organized it
thematically and commented on it in this text.
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There is a religious influence in the commentary
on the culture/traditions, as there is a religious divide between the author,
who is Christian, and the Indians, who are not.
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This text is one of the most important literary
works produced in South America in the colonial time period.
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The language used in the text is the principal
one of the indigenous people, the version of quechua approved by the Church for
evangelization purposes. (“una variante regional de la lengua general)
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This text is the only document in the colonial
version of quechua in which one of the “men called Indians” tries to rescue his
pueblo’s past by recording its testimony in an indigenous language.
Introducción del texto
mismo
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If the indigenous people had known how to write
sooner, they wouldn’t have been losing their traditions like they have been up
to this point
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In this text, the author will record the ancient
traditions of the Huarochirí and all the customs that are still practiced, so
as not to lose them
Capítulo 1
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*“huaca”
= ser sagrado, la manifestación material de dicho ser sagrado
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In very ancient times, there were two huacas
(gods), who were later defeated by another huaca, “Huallallo Carhuincho.”
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Huallallo (the god) was the one who gave
strength to men. He only permitted them to have two kids, and he ate one of
them, and then allowed the other one to be raised by his parents.
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In that time (“en aquella época” – focus on
past), men resuscitated five days after dying and the crops matured five days
after being planted.
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All the birds were very pretty in that time, but
when another huaca (Pariacaca) showed up, he got rid of all these pretty birds
and everything else that the huaca Huallallo had done.
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Before, when the people had to do anything
difficult, they prayed to another huaca, Cuniraya Huiracocha, to help them.
Capítulo 2 (about
Cuniraya Huiracocha)
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In the ancient days, the huaca Cuniraya
Huiracocha roamed the earth disguised as a very poor man, just checking things
out with the people.
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There was this really hot female huaca,
Cahuillaca, who everyone wanted to get with, but she always rejected them and
was still a virgin. She was chilling one day, weaving under a tree, and
Cuniraya was like, screw this, I’ma get with her. So he turned into a bird and
put his semen into a fruit and let it drop beside her. She ate it, and thus got
pregnant without actually losing her virginity / having sex with anyone.
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Nine months later, Cahuillaca had a baby huaca! When
the kid turned a year old, she called up all the other huacas and was basically
like, so, who’s the baby daddy? Everybody wanted to claim the role, because
basically they wanted to tap that, but nobody recognized the kid as their own.
Cahuillaca asks everyone except for Cuniraya, because he still looks like a
poor dude and she’s like nope he’s not the baby daddy, it’s gotta be one of
these more sexy guys. So since nobody recognized the kid as their own, she told
the kid to go find his own dad out of the bunch. The kid crawled around and
went to Cuniraya all happy-like, and Cahuillaca got pissed and was like hell
naw. She ran off with the kid towards the sea, and Cuniraya transformed back
into his normal badass self (rather than poor looking guy) to make her love
him.
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Cuniraya goes chasing after Cahuillaca and as he
searches for her, he asks the animals he sees where she went. First, he sees a
vulture (cóndor), and since he says that Cahuillaca is close by, he tells him
that he will live by eating dead animals (easy eating) and if anyone kills the
vulture that person will die too. Second, he sees a fox (zorrina), and since
she says that Cahuillaca is far away, he tells her that she can only walk
around at night, and that the men will hate her and she will stink. Third, he
sees a puma/mountain lion, and since he says Cahuillaca is close by, he tells
him that if anyone kills him, they will have a huge party and dance to
celebrate his life. Fourth, he sees another fox with bad news, so he says that
he will always be hated by men and have a worthless death. Fifth, he sees a
falcon (halcón) with good news, so he says he will always eat well and that men
will cry if they accidentally kill him. Sixth, he sees some parrots with bad
news, so he tells them that they will always be very noisy and men will hate
them.
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Cuniraya keeps chasing after Cahuillaca and
finds two girls without their mother. He rapes the older girl, and was going to
do the same with the younger, but she turned into a dove and flew away.
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He never did find Cahuillaca… wow. What a story…
Capítulo 3
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In the ancient times, the world was going to
end. A llama knew the sea was going to overflow, so he didn’t eat, even though
his owner put him in this lovely grassy area. His owner got pissed and yelled
at him, so the llama started talking like a human and was basically like,
“You’re an idiot, don’t you know that the world is going to end when the sea
overflows in a few days?” The llama’s owner panics, and is like, “Oh no, what
do we do?” and the llama tells him where they can go to save themselves. They
go there, and all the animals are hanging out there already. When the water
rose and covered the earth, the animals (and the llama’s owner) survived. When
the water went back down, all the other men had died, but the men were able to
multiply again because of the llama’s owner who had survived.
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Note at the end of the text: “We the Christians
believe this refers to the time of the Flood (with Noah), while these
indigenous people who aren’t Christians yet attribute their salvation to some
huaca”
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So basically like the Noah’s ark story, minus
the boat and the two-by-two business.
Capítulo 4
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In the ancient times the sun died and there was
darkness for five days.
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“Nosotros
los cristianos consideramos que se trata de la obscuridad que acompañó la
muerte de nuestro señor Jesucristo. Los demás, aunque todavía no son cristianos
convencidos, dicen que también lo creen posible”
Capítulo 5 (el relato del origen de Pariacaca)
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We still haven’t talked about the origin of the
men of ancient times
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The men of ancient times didn’t do anything but
have wars and fight between themselves
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Pariacaca (a huaca) was born form five eggs.
Only one poor man, Huatiacuri, who was also somehow Pariacaca’s son, knew of
his birth.
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There was a very powerful man named Tamtañamca
who had this awesomely decorated house and pretended to be very wise and thus
deceived tons of people. He got very sick, and the people were like, wait,
how’d he get sick if he’s so wise? None of the doctors know why he’s sick or
how to heal him.
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The animals talk about Tamtañamca and why he’s
sick. A fox says that it’s because his wife was cooking, and a grain of corn
fell and touched Tamtañamca’s genitals. She picked it up and gave it to another
man to eat – this is considered adultery, so that’s why Tamtañamca is sick.
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Tamtañamca had two daughters; the older one was
married to a rich man and the younger one wasn’t married yet. Huatiacuri showed
up and told the younger one to marry him, and he would heal her father (Tamtañamca)
from his sickness. Everyone is skeptical, but Tamtañamca is like whatever, I’ll
do anything to feel better, and gives Huatiacuri his daughter.
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Huatiacuri tells Tamtañamca that he is sick
because of his wife’s adultery. He says there are two snakes on top of the
house and a frog with two heads underneath it, making him get sick, and for him
to get better, they will have to kill these animals. Tamtañamca also needs to
stop acting like a god, and adore the true huaca/god, Pariacaca (who is
Huatiacuri’s father).
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They kill the animals, Tamtañamca’s wife admits
her error, and Tamtañamca starts to get better. Huatiacuri marries Tamtañamca’s
daughter.
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Huatiacuri’s brother-in-law, the husband of Tamtañamca’s
older daughter, is pissed that this poor dude is now his brother-in-law, so he
starts to test him because he wants to shame/embarrass him. What the
brother-in-law doesn’t know is that Huatiacuri’s father, the huaca Pariacaca,
is going to help him.
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The first test – test of strength by drinking
and dancing. Huatiacuri turns into some animal (with father Pariacaca’s help),
and so some other animals leave their instruments with him. When he turns back
into a human and goes to the dancing test, the earth shakes because of the
special instruments, so he wins the dancing. He also wins the drinking test.
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Second test – dress oneself with the finest
feathers – Pariacaca gives Huatiacuri a suit of snow.
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Third test – bring as many puma skins as
possible. (brother-in-law was going to bring the ones he already had).
Huatiacuri danced with a red puma skin and a rainbow appeared over him.
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Fourth test – construction of a house. The
brother-in-law had a lot of experience and built the house in one day.
Huatiacuri worked slowly but in the night the animals built it for him.
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Fifth test – putting roofs on the houses. An
animal destroys the roof that the brother-in-law puts up.
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Huatiacuri says that now, since he has accepted
so many tests from his brother-in-law, the brother-in-law has to accept one
from him. He says he has to dance in some special way. While the brother-in-law is dancing,
Huatiacuri enters and scares him so much that he turns into a deer and runs
away. His wife (the older daughter) says she will follow him and Huatiacuri
calls her an imbecile and curses her to be stuck in one place where everyone
will always see her genitals, and turns her into stone.
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The deer used to eat humans. One day they were
dancing and talking about this and one deer messed up and said the humans eat
the deer – now the deer are food for people.
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After all this, Pariacaca and his brothers
“hatch” from the eggs and disguise themselves as people. They’re pissed about
how unfaithful and arrogant all the humans are, so they turn into rain and
destroy all the houses and kill the people.
Capítulo 9
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Pariacaca establishes some communities that will
adore him and serve him. He teaches them how they should adore him. To teach
them, he chooses one person from each lineage to instruct. This one person will
organize the parties/dances according to traditions established by Pariacaca.
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They had llama races and the owner of whichever
llama won was very loved by Pariacaca.
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There are dances that all the important people
must go to. If they don’t go, there’s a risk that they will die. If they can’t
go or stay the whole time, they assign a child or someone else to dance in
their place.
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On the big holiday, everyone cries for all the
deaths of the entire year and beg Pariacaca to receive them (their souls?) and
leave him offerings of food and sacrifices of animals (a llama).
-
Christian aside: says that the Indians adore a
demon, and that since they have only been with the religious Spaniard Francisco
de Avila a few years, they still don’t believe the Christian faith in their
hearts. Many converted to Christianity out of fear alone, and they pray the
rosary but still believe in the Indian religion. Although many don’t actively
practice the old rites anymore, they pay someone to practice them in their
place.
Capítulo 12
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This chapter talks about how Pariacoca’s sons
conquered the “yuncas,” the indigenous people of the region
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Pariacoca’s son Tutayquire is the bravest of all
and so he was the first to conquer the yuncas. He put a rod of gold in the
ground to represent his power, and says that if someone challenges his power,
the yuncas will conquer the land.
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One day, Tutayquire is walking around, and a
chick named Chuquisuso seduces him by showing him her breasts and genitals
(some strategy, huh?). Because of this, Tutayquire and his brothers stayed in
the same place, instead of conquering more land.
Capítulo 16
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This chapter talks about whether Pariacaca, who
was born one of five eggs, had brothers, or if he was the father of the other
gods that “hatched”
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Pariacaca had conquered the old god, Huallallo
Carhuincho, and the other god (Pariacaca’s brother/son, Pariacarco) stays in
the entrance of the region to make sure that he doesn’t come back in.
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One day Pariacaca and the other five “brothers”
fought with Huallallo and a huge snake with two heads appeared and when
Pariacaca hit it, it turned into stone. There is now the belief that if you hit
the snake and take the little rock that chips off, it will protect you from any
sickness.
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Huallallo sent a parrot to threaten Pariacaca,
but Pariacaca just broke one of its wings and thus defeated Huallallo, and left
his brother Pariacarco there to guard the region.
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