Quechua

LOCATION: Peru; Ecuador; Bolivia (Central Andes regions)
POPULATION: About 7.5 million
LANGUAGE: Quechua
RELIGION: Combination of pre-Columbian and Roman Catholic elements

INTRODUCTION

The Quechua Indians of the central Andes are the direct descendants of the Incas. The Inca Empire, which existed for a century before the arrival of the Spanish, was a highly developed civilization. The Inca Empire stretched from parts of present-day Colombia in the north, southward into Chile. The Incas had an impressive governing structure. The government imposed tribute and taxes on the population that were extracted in the form of labor and in crops. Vast warehouses were used to store food that was then distributed in times of famine. The Incas also had an immense army, used to continuously expand the empire and conquer new peoples.

The Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America in the early 1500s. When they arrived, the Inca king had already succumbed to the many European diseases that preceded the conquistadors. The Incas were in a state of civil war when Spanish forces arrived. After the Spanish captured the new Inca king, Atahualpa, the Incas suffered a swift defeat. The Spanish banned the Quechua language and culture from politics and education.

Before being assimilated by the Incas, the requirements made by this empire did not violently affect Quechua's way of life. It was more of a slow process of assimilation in which the Inca Empire imposed a series of taxes, which were accompanied by a series of social benefits. However, when the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire and Quechua culture came under Spanish rule, their society and life was deeply altered. The Spanish institution known as encomienda illustrates this phenomenon.

In general terms, the encomienda was a legal system of tribute established by the Spanish crown. The encomienda (from encomendar, "to entrust") granted a conquistador, soldier, or others, a specific number of Indians. The encomendero, or the beneficiary of the grant, could demand tribute from the Indian in gold, money, or labor. In exchange, the encomendero was obligated to protect and teach this Amerindian population the Christian faith. As a result of this system of tribute, Quechuas were forced to produce unfamiliar crops at the expense of their own food. Moreover, unlike the Incas, Europe did not supply the Quechua people with any kind of welfare.

In addition to these obligations, the Roman Catholic Church also demanded time and resources from this people. By the time Spanish rule ended in the 19th century, Quechua people had been so changed that many remained as servants on the grand haciendas and estates. In practice, the encomienda became a source of institutionalized injustice where the encomenderos gained control over Quechua land.

Peru attained independence from the Spanish in 1821. Modern-day Peru has struggled to modernize, plagued by problems of hyperinflation, poor governments, and terrorism. MostQuechua still live in the Andean highlands, relying on subsistence agriculture and pastoralism, as did their Inca ancestors.

LOCATION AND HOMELAND

Quechua Indians still live in the areas once governed by the Inca Empire in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. At least one-third of Peru's 23 million inhabitants are Quechua Indians, still living as subsistence farmers throughout the Andes. The geographical conditions between regions differ dramatically. In mountain valleys there is rich soil and access to water that is suitable for farming. Most Quechua, however, live on the stark, steep slopes of the central Andes. Here, the soil is poor, the wind strong, and the weather cold.

Migration and urbanization in the past few decades have drawn many Quechua to Lima, the capital city of Peru, where there is now a large indigenous and Mestizo (mixed-race) population.

LANGUAGE

Quechua was the official language of the Inca Empire, the kingdom that ruled the Andes region from the mid-1400s until the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1532. This language became the lingua franca of Spaniards and Amerindians in the Andes regions.

The Quechua language is known by its speaker as Runa Simi, or the language of the people. Today, the term quechua refers more to the language than to a concrete ethnic group. In this sense, the Quechua extend throughout all the territory where Quechua is spoken, including a number of ethnic groups that speak Quechua and whose original language has disappeared. In the colonial chronicles, the term is used to refer to an ethnic group, whose original homeland is hard to determine. They seem to have inhabited the region of northwest Peru and to have expanded southward to the Andean region of Ecuador until they reached Peru. The diffusion of the Quechua language stems from Inca politics, continued throughout the colonial period, which gave Quechua a superior status to the other languages spoken in the Andes.

The Quechua language was the administrative language of the Inca state. Today it is spoken by nearly 8 million people in Peru alone, 1–2 million in Ecuador, and 1 million in Bolivia. Quechua words that have been assimilated into the English language include puma, condor, llama, and coca. Unlike most other native South American languages, Quechua is an official language of Peru, accorded the same status as Spanish. Although it is unusual, senators and congresspersons can give speeches in the Peruvian Congress in Quechua. The present Bolivian vice-president, Hugo Cárdenas, gave his acceptance speech in Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara.

Rafael Correa, a trained economist who took office as president of Ecuador in 2007, is fluent in Quechua, Spanish, English, and French.

FOLKLORE

The myth of Incarrí perhaps reveals the most about the feelings of the vanquished Inca. After the conquest of Peru in 1532, the Inca rulers retreated from Cuzco to Vilcabamba, where they resisted the Spanish invasion for nearly 50 years. In 1579 the last rebel Inca, Tupac Amaru, was captured and beheaded by the Spanish. The Spaniards stuck his head on a pike and placed it in the plaza of Cuzco as a warning to the rebels. The head disappeared, and they say that it is buried. The myth tells that it is slowly growing its body back and when the body is complete, the Incas will return to rule their land.

Many of the ancient Quechua myths are still preserved in their oral tradition. Most of them narrate the origin of different ethnic groups, or of mountains, rivers, and lakes.

RELIGION

Quechua religion combines both pre-Columbian and Catholic elements. The most significant pre-Columbian influence that endures is the belief in supernatural forces that govern everyday events, such as weather and illness. The continued belief in supernatural powers controlling rain, harvests, earthquakes, and the like serves a utilitarian purpose to the agricultural Quechua. By making offerings to the powers that control natural forces, the Quechua feel that they can influence events and not merely be helpless in the face of bad weather or disease. When drinking alcohol, for example, it is customary to first offer a drink to Mother Earth, Pachamama. The first sip of beer or wine is spilled on the ground, out of respect for Pachamama.

This religious Andean world is populated by gods who have human attributes, like love and hate—sometimes they love each other and other times they hate and fight each other. For this reason, the Andean religion has two dimensions in the lives of the people: first, in human terms to promote social cohesion; and second, in transcendental terms to relate gods and humans.

Despite the continued importance of pre-Columbian rituals, the Quechua have adopted the Catholic calendar of festivals. This calendar has been integrated into the pre-Columbian agricultural timetable. The festival of Carnival, for example, marks both the beginning of Lent and the planting season. Catholic symbols, as well, have dual meanings. The cross, introduced by the Catholic Church, not only symbolizes Christianity and Christ but is used to symbolize the Womanize (mountain deities) in some rituals and fertility in other rites. The Quechua, therefore, have not merely adopted Christianity but have incorporated it into their indigenous beliefs.

MAJOR HOLIDAYS

While the Quechua celebrate important Catholic holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, they have not abandoned their ancient holidays. In the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, the Inca Sun Festival is still celebrated. The Inti Raymi festival, as it is called, draws thousands of tourists from all over the world to witness its spectacular festivities. Donning replicas of Inca tunics, rather than contemporary Andean garb, Quechua Indians reenact the Inca sun-worshiping ceremony. The Inti Raymi festival, which celebrates the June solstice, reflects the Inca's vast knowledge of astronomy. On this occasion, there is much eating, drinking, and dancing. True to Inca traditions, a llama is also sacrificed on this day.

RITES OF PASSAGE

Major life transitions, such as birth, puberty, and death, are marked by rituals and celebrations that combine Catholic and indigenous traditions.

It is common that many rituals of the Quechua culture are expressed while singing and dancing. For instance, Qamili is a dance practiced on a large scale with numerous chorales. A variation of the Qamili is the Saratarpuy, and it is commonly practiced when people are sowing corn. To celebrate that special day, Quechua women dance the Saratarpuy, hoping they will have a good harvest.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Courtship and marriage involve a lengthy series of rituals and stages. Most unmarried youths meet (and flirt) during one of the community's many festivals. When a young couple decides that they are ready to consider marriage, the family of the bride is visited by the family of the prospective groom. The groom himself stays home while his parents and godparents discuss the wedding and negotiate what each family will donate to the newlyweds. The engagement is made official at a later date when the bride and groom exchange rosaries. At the wedding, there is a public procession as the bride leaves her home to join her husband's ayllu, or community. Various other rituals, including fertility rites, follow the wedding.

LIVING CONDITIONS

The dominant building material throughout most of the Andes is adobe. Adobe has the advantages of being highly durable, free, and widely available. Adobe can be made almost year-round with the rich Andean soil. Roofs are now more often made of tiles, rather than of the traditional thatched material used in the past. House-building is a communal affair, based on the ancient Inca system of labor exchange known as mita. This institution was mandatory public service required by the Inca Empire. It was a tribute in the form of labor every time that public service was needed in public works projects, such as the construction of roads or public buildings. All the citizens able to perform these tasks were required to do them for a number of days every year. Since the Inca Empire was so wealthy, it usually only took about 65 days a year for the family to farm for its own needs; the rest of the year time was usually devoted to the mita.

In the communal construction of house-building for members of the community, neighbors will be offered chicha beer, cigarettes, and food in return for their help in the construction of a new home. In exchange, those who participated in the house-building are owed labor that they can claim at any time.

Regarding the economy realm, farming techniques were highly developed. Quechua adapted the agricultural process to satisfy the demands imposed by the Andean landscape. For instance, Quechuas developed a unique system of irrigation to water their fields as well as techniques to preserve their food by freeze-drying it in the cold mountain air. Llama and alpaca herds supply meat, wool, grease, fertilizer, fuel, and leather.

Although the Peruvian government has made efforts to decentralize its health care services, the quality of health care in rural communities is still extremely poor. Most remote communities have no access to medical care, and even those villages that do have a public health center receive little more than basic first aid. Given the cold, damp conditions, respiratory illnesses are the major cause of illness and death among the Quechua. Although vaccination rates are gradually increasing, infectious diseases such as measles and whooping cough are still frequent causes of death. Given the absence of good medical care provided by the state, most Quechua first turn to a curandero (literally, "curer") who provides herbal medicines and treatment.

FAMILY LIFE

Children in Quechua society play many important roles. From a very young age they participate in economic activities and perform key household tasks. Children are highly valued by the Quechua, and childless couples are sometimes considered to be social outcasts. As in most other subsistence economies, children are essential as they are expected to provide long-term economic security to their parents as they age. However, limited access to birth control makes it difficult to limit family size. While an optimum family size is considered by many Quechua to be three or four children, many families have up to 10 or more children. Generally, male children are more highly valued than females, as their economic potential is seen to be greater.

It is difficult to generalize about the role of women in Quechua society. Women clearly play a subordinate role compared to men in the community political structure. Women are less likely to receive a formal education, do not hold significant positions of power within the community, and are excluded from many potentially profitable economic activities. A clear sexual division of labor exists with regard to both agricultural and household tasks. Women's role in the family, however, is more ambiguous. Women do have a say in family matters, such as decisions about finances or issues surrounding the upbringing of the children. However, there is little evidence to suggest that they are free from subordination in family life as well.

One beautiful and traditional task made by women takes place in the agriculture realm. The llameras, or girls who take care of the llamas, dance and sing while pasturing their animals or while traveling with the llamas along the lonely mountains. In the present times, it is not just the mountain girls who sing and dance, but also girls in every city of the Andes in any major event or celebration.

CLOTHING

Traditional Andean clothing reflects strong Spanish influences. In 1572, the Spanish prohibited the Quechua from wearing native Inca tunics and wrap-around dresses. Andean peoples then adopted the clothing still in use today. Quechua women wear skirts and blouses, with colorful woven shawls around their shoulders. Men wear trousers, shirts, and woven ponchos. Sandals are the preferred footwear for both men and women.

The style and color of clothing worn by Quechua Indians does vary dramatically from region to region. The Otavalo of Ecuador, an important subgroup of the Quechua, has a very distinctive dress. They wear white trousers and shirts, covered by a solid black poncho. Otavalo men are also famed for their long black braids.

FOOD

The potato was first domesticated in Peru approximately 4,500 years ago. The potato and quinoa grain remain as two of the main staples of the Quechua diet. Common dishes include meat or potato stews, spiced with hot peppers, coriander, or peanuts. For community feasts, a pachamanca, or underground oven, is occasionally used. Taking up to four days to prepare, a hole is dug in the ground, lined with bricks or rocks, then layered with hot coals. Potatoes, meat, beans, and corn are placed in the ground, covered, and left to cook slowly. The pachamanca is particularly common in the central Andes of Peru.

Also considered a delicacy is guinea pig. The preferred dish for festivals, guinea pigs are often raised in the house and provide a productive use for kitchen scraps and discarded food. The use of guinea pigs as an important source of protein predates the Incas.

EDUCATION

Formal education in Peru is required until the age of 16. In rural areas, however, the percentage of students who finish their schooling is much lower than in urban areas. This is, in part, because children play a valuable role in household and agricultural tasks and their labor cannot be spared. The schooling received is generally very poor. Teaching methods are based on rote memorization rather than teaching children problem-solving skills. Personal initiative is rarely encouraged, and teachers generally have low expectations of what their students can achieve. A further problem emerges for Quechua children, as Spanish is the primary language taught at schools.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

The characteristic music of the central Andes is called huayno. The mountain origins of huaynos are reflected in their lyrics that recount daily life in mountain villages and proclaim Andean nationalism. Traditional instruments still widely used for this lively form of music include drums, flutes, and the charrango, a mandolin-style guitar made from an armadillo shell. Many huayno singers have been given recording contracts and are increasingly popular in urban areas.

Quechua folk music also includes beautiful, haunting pan-pipe music. One of these songs, El Condor Pasa, was recorded by Simon and Garfunkel in the 1960s and was a hit record.

As the Incas did not write, there is not a tradition of Quechua literature. In 20th-century Peru, however, there has emerged a tradition of indigenista writers that focus on the life of the indigenous peoples of the Andes. Jose Maria Arguedas, Cesar Vallejo, and Ciro Alegría have written influential books that portray the oppression of the Quechua throughout the centuries and chronicle their hard life in the Andes. These authors have contributed to a growing Andean nationalism and pride.

WORK

Most Quechua rely on subsistence farming for their livelihood. Corn, potatoes, and grains are crops that have adapted to the high-altitude environment. Land is still farmed using the Inca method of terracing on steep slopes. This labor-intensive approach to agriculture absorbs a tremendous amount of time, leaving little time to dedicate to other economic activities.

Trade is highly developed between different villages and regions. In addition to agricultural products, many communities produce pottery, textiles, belts, hats, and other handicrafts for cash sales. In most communities, there is a weekly market day, which plays an important role in the economic and social fabric of the village. Most farmers bring their surplus goods, produce, or livestock to sell at the market. The vast majority of petty vendors throughout the Andes are women.

SPORTS

The Quechua, as part of a Mestizo society, participate in many of the manifestations of Western culture. Although there are no definite Quechua sports, the Quechua participate in a variety of Western sports, such as soccer.

ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION

Socializing is the primary form of recreation in Quechua society. The Quechua celebrate a great many religious festivals, national holidays, and birthdays. Parties and festivals are events that are eagerly anticipated and require many weeks of planning. Many festivals, in fact, involve up to eight days of drinking, feasting, and dancing.

FOLK ART, CRAFTS, AND HOBBIES

The most significant handicrafts produced by the Quechua are textiles. Women throughout the Andes can be seen spinning wool almost all day, even while they are sitting at the market or waiting for a bus. Both llama and sheep wool are used. The "belt loom" still in use by the Quechua dates back to pre-Columbian eras. The Quechua are skilled weavers, and their products are increasingly in demand for the tourist and export markets.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Alcoholism is a serious social problem, especially in males, throughout the central Andes. Drinking alcoholic beverages is not only an accepted behavior at the Quechua's many festivals and parties, it is also an expected behavior. Alongside feasting and dancing, becoming drunk is a core part of most social occasions. Unfortunately, this behavior often spills over into daily life. Excessive drinking is common, and this has a negative impact on both family relations and family finances. Spousal abuse is a common result of alcoholism.

GENDER ISSUES

In Quechua community, women and men are considered as complementary in life. Both have spaces and rights assigned to them in an egalitarian way. The unity man/woman (hari warmi), linked together in the process of life, in space and time, and interrelated with the animal, vegetal, mineral, and spiritual world, symbolizes a reciprocal and complementary behavior in harmony with nature. This means that the human being does not exist alone but in a couple and that a single person is never complete. Men and women united through marriage are considered as the seed of the community, or ayllu, which creates and recreates social harmony between men and women.

Women participate in the whole agricultural production cycle but have specific feminine duties such as putting the seed in the earth, selecting the harvest, and collecting it in the warehouse. Men manage the different tools, take care of animal health, and sell the products in the market. In Quechua culture, women are the administrators of the resources because they are recognized as having this skill, and, implicitly, they are the ones who make decisions at home. They are considered as the cement of the household (warmin wasi simintuqa).

The survival of values and knowledge of the Quechua culture are made possible by women due to the transmission of these values and knowledge to their children and due to their keeping of the language, oral proverbs, medicine, weaving, music, and clothes. It is women's responsibility to keep and strengthen Quechua culture, for example by their fundamental role in the elaboration of the chicha. However, men often despise women and depreciate women's traditional knowledge and capacities. This lack of validation from men leads to Quechua women's low self-esteem.

Regarding political power, it is commonly assumed that men are the ones who should participate in the community assemblies and that, when a man votes, he is expected to represent both his own opinion and that of his wife.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Doughty, Paul. Hueylas: An Andean District in Search of Progress. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1968.

Isbell, Billie Jean. To Defend Ourselves: Ecology and Ritual in an Andean Village. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1978.

Kennet, Frances. Ethnic Dress: A Comprehensive Guide to the Folk Costume of the World. New York: Facts on File, 1995.

Limbert Ledezma, Jhonny. Género, trabajo agrícola y tierra. La Paz: Ediciones Abya-Yala; CENDA, Centro de Comunicación y Desarrollo Andino, 2006.

Moss, Joyce, and George Wilson. Peoples of the World: Latin Americans. London and Detroit: Gale Research, 1989.

Rycroft, W. Stanley. Indians of the High Andes. New York: Committee and Cooperation in Latin America, 1946.

Turpo Choquehuanca, Aureliano. Estado plurinacional, reto del siglo XXI: camino hacia la Asamblea Constituyente Propuesta política kechua tawantinsuyana. La Paz: IIR Kioshi - Oso Tranquilo: Plural Editores, 2006.

Van Vleet, Krista E. Performing Kinship: Narrative, Gender, and the Intimacies of Power in the Andes. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.

—revised by C. Vergara.

Quechua

PRONUNCIATION: KECH-wah

LOCATION: Peru; Ecuador; Bolivia (Central Andes regions)

POPULATION: About 7.5 million

LANGUAGE: Quechua language

RELIGION: Combination of pre-Columbian and Roman Catholic beliefs

1 • INTRODUCTION

The Quechua Indians of the central Andes are the direct descendants of the Incas. The Inca Empire, which existed for a century before the arrival of the Spanish, was a highly developed civilization. The Inca Empire stretched from parts of present-day Colombia in the north, southward into Chile. The Incas had an impressive governing structure. The government imposed tribute and taxes on the population which were exacted in the form of labor and in crops. Vast warehouses were used to store food, which was then distributed in times of famine. The Incas also had an immense army, used to continuously expand the empire and conquer new peoples.

The Spanish conquistadors arrived in South America in the early 1500s. When they arrived, the Inca king Huayna Cápac(d.1527) had already died from one of the many European diseases that preceded the conquistadors. The Incas were in a state of civil war when Spanish forces arrived. After the Spanish captured the new Inca king, Atahualpa (1500?–33), the Incas suffered a swift defeat.

Peru attained independence from the Spanish in 1821. Modern-day Peru has struggled to modernize. It has been plagued by problems of hyperinflation, poor governments, and terrorism. Most Quechua still live in the Andean highlands. They rely on subsistence agriculture (growing little more than their own food) and pastoralism (nomadic herding) as did their Inca ancestors.

2 • LOCATION

Quechua Indians still live in the areas once governed by the Inca Empire in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The geographical conditions between regions differ dramatically. In mountain valleys there is rich soil and access to water that is suitable for farming. Most Quechua, however, live on the stark, steep slopes of the central Andes. Here the soil is poor, the wind strong, and the weather cold.

About one-third of Peru's 24.5 million inhabitants are Quechua Indians. Migration and urbanization in the past few decades have drawn many Quechua to Lima, the capital city of Peru. There is now a large indigenous and mestizo (mixed-race) population in Lima.

3 • LANGUAGE

The Quechua language is known by its speakers as Runa Simi, or the language of the people. The term quechua refers more to the language than to a concrete ethnic group. The Quechua language was the administrative language of the Inca state. It is spoken by millions of people in Peru (about 8 million), Ecuador (nearly 2 million), and Bolivia (about 1 million). Quechua words that have been assimilated into the English language include puma, condor, llama, and coca. Unlike most other native South American languages, Quechua is an official language of Peru, accorded the same status as Spanish. Although it rarely occurs, senators and members of congress can give speeches in the Peruvian Congress in Quechua.

4 • FOLKLORE

The myth of Incarrí perhaps reveals the most about the feelings of the vanquished Inca. After the conquest of Peru in 1532, the Inca rulers retreated from Cuzco to Vilcabamba. There they resisted the Spanish invasion for nearly fifty years. In 1579 the last rebel Inca, Tupac Amaru, was captured and beheaded by the Spanish. The Spaniards stuck his head on a pike and placed it in the plaza of Cuzco as a warning to the rebels. The head disappeared, and they say that it is buried. The myth tells that it is slowly growing its body back and when the body is complete, the Incas will return to rule their land.

Many of the ancient Quechua myths are still preserved in their oral tradition. Most of them narrate the origin of various ethnic groups, or of mountains, rivers, and lakes.

5 • RELIGION

Quechua religion combines both pre-Columbian and Catholic elements. The most significant pre-Columbian influence that endures is the belief that supernatural forces govern everyday events, such as weather and illness. This belief serves a utilitarian purpose to the agricultural Quechua. By making offerings to the powers that control natural forces, the Quechua feel they can influence events and not merely be helpless in the face of bad weather or disease. When drinking alcohol, for example, it is customary to first offer a drink to Mother Earth, Pachamama.

This religious Andean world is populated by gods who have human attributes. Sometimes they love each other and other times they hate and fight each other. For this reason, the Andean religion has two dimensions in the lives of the people. First, in human terms it promotes social cohesion, and second, in transcendental terms it connects gods and humans.

The Quechua have adopted Christianity and also have incorporated it into their indigenous beliefs.

6 • MAJOR HOLIDAYS

The Quechua celebrate important Catholic holidays such as Christmas and Easter. At the same time, they have not abandoned their ancient holidays. In the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, the Inca Sun Festival is still celebrated. The Inti Raymi festival, as it is called, draws thousands of tourists from all over the world to witness its spectacular festivities. Donning replicas of Inca tunics, rather than contemporary Andean garb, Quechua Indians reenact the Inca sun-worshiping ceremony. The Inti Raymi festival, which celebrates the June solstice, reflects the Inca's vast knowledge of astronomy. On this occasion, there is much eating, drinking, and dancing. True to Inca traditions, a llama is also sacrificed on this day.

7 • RITES OF PASSAGE

Major life transitions, such as birth, puberty, and death, are marked by rituals and celebrations that combine Catholic and indigenous traditions.

8 • RELATIONSHIPS

Courtship and marriage involve a lengthy series of rituals and stages. Most unmarried youths meet (and flirt) during one of the community's many festivals. When a young couple decides that they are ready to consider marriage, the family of the bride is visited by the family of the prospective groom. The groom himself stays home while his parents and godparents discuss the wedding and negotiate what each family will donate to the newlyweds. The engagement is made official at a later date when the bride and groom exchange rosaries. At the wedding, there is a public procession as the bride leaves her home to join her husband's ayllu or community. Various other rituals, including fertility rites, follow the wedding.

9 • LIVING CONDITIONS

The dominant building material throughout most of the Andes is adobe. Adobe has the advantages of being highly durable, free, and widely available. Adobe can be made almost year-round with the rich Andean soil. Traditionally, roofs were made from thatched material. However, now they are more often made of tiles. House-building is a communal affair, based on the ancient Inca system of labor exchange known as mita. Neighbors are offered chicha (beer), cigarettes, and food in return for their help in the construction of a new home. In exchange, those who participated in the house-building are owed labor that they can claim at any time.

The quality of health care in rural communities is still extremely poor. Most Quechua first turn to a curandero (literally, "curer") who provides herbal medicines and treatment.

10 • FAMILY LIFE

Children in Quechua society play many important roles. From a very young age they participate in economic activities and key household tasks. As in most other subsistence economies, children are essential as they are expected to provide long-term economic security to their parents as they age. An optimum family size is considered to be three or four children. However, due to limited access to birth control, many families have ten or more children. Generally, male children are more highly valued than females, as their economic potential is seen to be greater.

Women play a subordinate role compared to men in the community political structure. Women are less likely to receive a formal education, do not hold significant positions of power within the community, and are excluded from many potentially profitable economic activities. A clear sexual division of labor exists with regard to both agricultural and household tasks. Within the family, women have a say in matters such as decisions about finances or issues surrounding the upbringing of children. However, there is little evidence to suggest that they are free from subordination in that domain either.

11 • CLOTHING

Traditional Andean clothing reflects Spanish influences. In 1572, the Spanish prohibited the Quechua from wearing native Inca tunics and wrap-around dresses. Andean peoples then adopted the clothing still in use today. Quechua women wear skirts and blouses, with colorful woven shawls around their shoulders. Men wear trousers, shirts, and woven ponchos (capes). Sandals are the preferred footwear for both men and women.

The style and color of clothing worn by Quechua Indians varies dramatically from region to region. The Otavalo of Ecuador, an important subgroup of the Quechua, have a very distinctive dress. They wear white trousers and shirts, covered by a solid black poncho. Otavalo men are also famed for their long black braids.

12 • FOOD

The potato was first domesticated in Peru approximately 4,500 years ago. The potato and quinoa grain remain as two of the main staples of the Quechua diet. Common dishes include meat or potato stews, spiced with hot peppers, coriander, or peanuts. For community feasts, a pachamanca, or underground oven, is occasionally used.

Also considered a delicacy is guinea pig. The preferred dish for festivals, guinea pigs are often raised in the house and provide a productive use for kitchen scraps and discarded food. The use of guinea pigs as an important source of protein pre-dates the Incas.

13 • EDUCATION

Formal education in Peru is required until the age of sixteen. In rural areas, however, the percentage of students who finish their schooling is much lower than in urban areas. This is, in part, because children play a valuable role in household and agricultural tasks and their labor cannot be spared. The schooling received is generally very poor. Teaching methods are based on rote memorization rather than problem-solving skills. Personal initiative is rarely encouraged, and teachers generally have low expectations of what their students can achieve. A further problem emerges for Quechua children, since Spanish is the primary language taught and used at schools.

14 • CULTURAL HERITAGE

The characteristic music of the central Andes is called huayno. The mountain origins of huaynos are reflected in their lyrics that recount daily life in mountain villages and proclaim Andean nationalism (patriotism). Traditional instruments still widely used include drums, flutes, and the charrango, a mandolin-style guitar made from an armadillo shell. Huayno singers are increasingly popular in urban areas.

Quechua folk music also includes beautiful, haunting music for panpipes (hollow pipes of graduated length). One of these songs, "El Condor Pasa," was a hit record for the singing duo, Simon and Garfunkel in the 1960s.

As the Incas did not write, there is not a tradition of Quechua literature. In twentieth-century Peru, however, there has emerged a tradition of indigenista writers who focus on the life of the indigenous (native) Andean peoples. Jose Maria Arguedas, Cesar Vallejo, and Ciro Alegría have written influential books that portray the oppression of the Quechua throughout the centuries and chronicle their hard life in the Andes. These authors have contributed to a growing Andean nationalism and pride.

15 • EMPLOYMENT

Most Quechua rely on subsistence farming for their livelihood. Corn, potatoes, and grains are crops that have adapted to the high-altitude environment. Land is still farmed using the Inca method of terracing on steep slopes. This labor-intensive approach to agriculture requires a tremendous amount of time. Little time is left to devote to other economic activities.

Trade is highly developed between different villages and regions. In addition to agricultural products, many communities produce pottery, textiles, belts, hats, and other handicrafts for cash sales. In most communities, there is a weekly market day, which plays an important role in the economic and social fabric of the village.

16 • SPORTS

There are no uniquely Quechua sports. However, as part of a mestizo (mixed background) society, the Quechua participate in a variety of Western sports, such as soccer.

17 • RECREATION

Socializing is the primary form of recreation in Quechua society. The Quechua celebrate a great many religious festivals, national holidays, and birthdays. Parties and festivals are eagerly anticipated and require many weeks of planning. Many festivals involve up to eight days of drinking, feasting, and dancing.

18 • CRAFTS AND HOBBIES

The most significant handicraft produced by the Quechua is textiles. Women throughout the Andes can be seen spinning wool almost all day, even while sitting at the market or waiting for a bus. Both llama and sheep wool are used. The "belt loom" still in use by the Quechua dates back to pre-contact (with Europeans) times. The Quechua are skilled weavers. Their products are increasingly in demand for the tourist and export markets.

19 • SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Male drunkenness is a serious social problem throughout the central Andes. Drinking alcoholic beverages is not only an accepted behavior at the Quechua's many festivals and parties, it is also an expected behavior.

Alongside feasting and dancing, becoming drunk is a core part of most social occasions. Unfortunately, this behavior often spills over into daily life. Excessive male drinking has a negative impact on both family relations and family finances. Spousal abuse is a common result of alcoholism.

20 • BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fiesta! Peru. Danbury, Conn.: Grolier Educational, 1997.

Hemming, John. The Conquest of th e Incas. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, 1970.

Hudson, Rex A. Peru in Pictures. Minneapolis, Minn.: Lerner Publications Co., 1987.

Jermyn, Leslie. Peru. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Gareth Stevens, 1998.

Kalman, Bobbie. Peru: The People and Culture. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 1994.

King, David C. Peru: Lost Cities, Found Hopes. New York: Benchmark Books, 1998.

Lewington, Anna. Rainforest Amerindians. Austin, Tex.: Raintree Steck-Vaughan Publishers, 1993.

Lewington, Anna. What Do We Know about the Amazonian Indians? New York: P. Bedrick Books, 1993.

Parker, Edward. Peru. Austin, Tex.: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 1997.

Recipes from Around the World. Howard County, Md.: Foreign-Born Information and Referral Network, 1993.

WEBSITES

Interknowledge Corp. Peru. [Online] Available http://www.interknowledge.com/peru/, 1998.

Ruiz-Garcia, Pedro. The Latino Connection. [Online] Available http://www.ascinsa.com/LATINOCONNECTION/peru.html, 1998.

World Travel Guide. Peru. [Online] Available http://www.wtgonline.com/country/pe/gen.html, 1998.

Quechua

Quechua designates the language that the Inca, in the course of their military expansion, disseminated across wide expanses of the Andean highlands. Many of the groups they conquered learned Quechua as a second language or adopted it in lieu of their own tongues. Indicative of the former geographical extension of the Inca Empire is the far-flung distribution of their language in modern times. The speech forms of Quechuan peoples range from southern Colombian (Inga) and Ecuadoran (Quichua), to Peruvian, Bolivian, and northern Argentinian (Runa Simi). Dispersed throughout this vast region of western South America, an estimated 8.5 to 11 million people speak more or less closely related dialects of Quechua, which makes it the most widely spoken surviving Indian language of America.

In Peru, Quechua is recognized as a co-official language, and in Bolivia it functions as the second national language of the country. This recognition simply takes account of the prominence that Quechua commands in these two countries. In the highlands of Peru and Bolivia, 90 percent of the people understand Quechua, 80 percent speak it, and 50 percent are said to speak it as their only language. Although Quechua is spoken by mestizos in rural and urban areas, it tends to become increasingly identified with the lower-class Indian peasantry within the nation-states of its contemporary distribution.

Descendants of the Inca themselves and of the peoples they conquered constitute a large part of the Indian and mestizo highland population of Peru and adjacent countries. Living in dispersed homesteads, communities, and townships, they possess an intricate culture composed of authochthonous and European elements. Thus, the Quechua people cannot be considered Indians in the aboriginal sense. In colonial times, they acquired many Spanish cultural elements such as oxen and other domestic animals, plows, and new crops, as well as local governing councils and religious brotherhoods. Many modern Quechua are hacienda workers or have become assimilated as laborers in highland towns. Furthermore, in the twentieth century, the highland Quechua have increasingly intensified the colonization process of the Montaña rainforest regions on the eastern Andean slope, a process that began as far back as Inca times.

Quechua culture, as described in the Mountain Culture Area section of the Introduction, is concentrated heavily in the central Andean highland communities. For variant forms of contemporary Quechua culture, consult separate entries under Callahuaya, Canelos Quichua, Cotopaxi Quichua, Otavalo, Salasaca, and Saraguro.

Bibliography

Kubier, George (1946). "The Quechua in the Colonial World." In Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Julian H. Steward. Vol. 2, Andean Civilizations, 331-410. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Isbell, Billie Jean (1978). To Defend Ourselves: Ecology and Ritual in an Andean Village. Institute of Latin American Studies, Latin American Monographs, no. 47, Austin: University of Texas Press.

Landerman, Peter N. (1991). "Quechua Dialects and Their Classification." Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.

Mishkin, Bernard (1946). "The Contemporary Quechua." In Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Julian H. Steward. Vol. 2, Andean Civiliazations, 411-470. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Ossio Acuña, Juan M. (1992). Parentesco, reciprocidad y jerarquía en los Andes. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Rasnake, Roger N. (1988). Domination and Cultural Resistance: Authority and Power among an Andean People. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.

Urton, Gary (1981). At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Quechua

Quechua was the language of the Incas, though it originated prior to the rise of the Inca Empire in the fifteenth century. The people of the Chincha nation were likely the primary source of the particular dialect of Southern Quechua that was instituted as the official language of the Incan state. The Chincha were located on the coast, enjoying vast maritime wealth, a critical component for the promotion of pan-Andean trade. When the Inca subjugated the Chincha, they adopted their language and then spread it throughout large swaths of South America as they conquered other tribes and assimilated various ethnic groups. Quechua was co-opted by the Spanish in the sixteenth century, and was used for a time by Spanish priests in their proselytizing missions, even expanding its usage beyond the realm of the Inca.

Quechua facilitates the expression of affection in interpersonal relations. It is also a living language that aids in literary creations from ancestral voices being retained in the collective memory. Quechua shares about one-third of its vocabulary with Aymara, and its words often substitute for Spanish locutions, even in parts of Peru and Bolivia where Spanish is almost exclusively spoken.

The Quechua language is certainly extant, despite lacking a written form until after the Spanish conquest. Scholars typically categorize a handful of dialects, while recognizing more hybrid dialects exist. The most popular dialect of the language, Southern Quechua, is spoken throughout southern Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and even parts of Argentina. Another dialect, Northern Quechua, is spoken in parts of Colombia and Ecuador. A third dialect, known as Waywash, is spoken in parts of Peru's central highlands. The fourth main dialect, Yunkey, is spoken in pockets of the Peruvian highlands.

Quechua is an official language in both Bolivia and Peru. Censuses in Andean countries have tried to gauge the number of Quechua speakers, though the results suffer from underreporting. It is generally estimated that there were between 8 and 11 million Quechua speakers in South America in the early twenty-first century.

See alsoAymara; Chincha; Indigenous Languages.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alvarez, Luis R. Las lenguas aborigines: Testimonio de nuestra raices. Cordoba: Alcion Editora, 2003.

Campbell, Lyle. American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

                                Wilfredo Kapsoli

                                Sean H. Goforth

Quech·ua / ˈkechwə/ (also Quech·a / ˈkechə/ , Quich·ua) • n. (pl. same or Quech·uas) 1. a member of an American Indian people of Peru and parts of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador. 2. the language or group of languages of this people.• adj. of or relating to this people or their language.DERIVATIVES: Quech·uan / -wən/ (also Quech·an / ˈkechən/ ) adj. & n.