Cantos by Ericka Koehler

When I was a child, the first stories I heard were from my maternal Peruvian grandparents. I remember that I heard the story of “Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo.” This tale mentions that the god Inti (It means “sun” in Quechua language) ordered his children to find a place to found the Inca Empire. And the children of the sun god obeyed their father. They came out of the depths of Lake Titicaca (A very deep and high lake, which is on the border between Peru and Bolivia). Manco Capac (which means “first man” in the Quechua language) had a gold scepter. His father told him that in the place where this scepter sank, he should found the Inca Empire. Manco Capac was accompanied by Mama Ocllo (which means “first woman” in the Quechua language). In their path, Manco Capac met a group of men that follow them. Manco Capac told them that he was the “son of the sun” and that he would teach them how to cultivate the land, be able to hunt animals, build irrigation canals for plants, build houses, among other tasks that the men must learn to live in a family. Then, Mama Ocllo talked to the wives of those men and told them that she would teach them how to take care of the home, and how to weave. They also created three rules or commandments that everyone had to follow. Those were: “Ama Sua” (It means “don’t steal”), “Ama Quella” (It means “don’t be lazy”) and “Ama Llulla (It means “don’t lie”). These commandments were and still are very important in the Andean community of Peru. Until after so much walking, Manco Capac, Mama Ocllo and the people who followed them arrived in Cusco, at Cerro Huanacaure. After so much passing through various difficulties, finally, the golden scepter sank into that hill, and Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo founded what is now known as Machu Picchu. There, they became the first Incas and the people who followed them, became the first habitants of the city they formed.

The moral of this story serves to explain how the citadel of Machu Picchu was founded and the beginning of the Inca Empire started. It’s a way to explain to others how this civilization of Incas arrived, built Machu Picchu and created an Empire in South America. This story has been passed down orally from generation to generation. In fact, the Incas did not have writing, so what is known about them has been by oral transmission over the centuries.

The written version of this story came time later, when the Incan Empire was defeated and conquered by the Spanish. It was they who began to write about the Incas. There was a very famous writer in Peru who was the son of a Spaniard and a noble descendant of the Incas. His name was Inca Garcilazo de la Vega. He lived in the late 1500s and 1600s, and it was thanks to him that part of the history and life of the Incas and Peru could be reconstructed. Being partially descended from the Inca nobility by his mother, he wrote many stories about them and how he perceived the treatment the indigenous people received from the Spanish. Thus, this oral history could be compiled in his written version.

In Peru, every year “Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo story” is represented in Cusco. On June 24, the day of the peasant is celebrated, so in Machu Picchu they make a theatrical performance telling the story of the Incas. Visualization changes the way we see a story because it shapes that story. It differs from reading or hearing a story because we have characters, dialogue, and costumes that make that story sound more real.