Water, birth of the Inca Empire

“Be water, my friend”, said Bruce Lee in relation to his vital philosophy. And he was certain since our body is water, nature and wildlife are water, the Earth is water and even the sky provides us with water. Humanity has considered water a sacred element for thousands of years. Seas, oceans, rivers, lakes and waterfalls have been used from ancient times to explain magic and mysteries stories even to justify the origin of humans. 

One example of these ancestral beliefs is Lake Titicaca, a sacred lake located on the border between Peru and Bolivia. It is known as the highest navigable lake in the world and there is a mythical explanation that relates the lake to the origin of the Inca civilization. The God Sun (Inti) and the Goddess Moon (Quilla) were suffering an unrequited love since they could never find each other. Nevertheless, there was a prophecy about their love: one day, the Earth darkened and Quilla joined Int. They made love and two brothers were born, a girl and a boy, in Lake Titicaca. When people arrived at Titicaca, they found a handsome man (known as Manco Cápac) and a very beautiful woman (Mama Ocllo).  Their father, Inti, ordered Manco Cápac to teach the local population to cultivate lands and raise animals and ordered Mama Ocllo to teach women how to spin and weave clothes and do housework. Inti gave them advice to guide the Inca population and a golden rod whose function was to mark a fertile land that would be the end of their pilgrimage.  In that place they were to found the capital of the Inca Empire. Therefore, Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo started their longest trip to the north of the sacred lake, going across the lands of Urus, Collas and Aimaras. When they arrived at Cusco Valley, Manco Cápac dropped the golden rod and it disappeared into the earth. That place was known as Cusco, the center of the world, in honour of the gods. 

This is only one simple example of the worldwide stories about the strong relation between water and life. When we think about our physical reality, we can be conscious of our fragility as humans.

Uinen