Inca Women

The inca women were the engine that move the inca development; The history of the incas is not giving the right place to the achievements of women during the inca empire, in this page you will find a few important facts about the real role of the women in the incas society; Women in the agriculture, the very first intents of primitive agriculture was started by women, because while the man went out hunting, women experiment with primitive agriculture, centuries of try and error, teach them how to grow vegetables.

The pregnancy for the inca women was part of life, as a matter of fact the moment of birth of a new baby was not a special moment at all: For example if a woman was about to give birth a new baby, she by her self went away, giving birth to the baby by her self, right after giving birth the baby, the mother take the baby to the closes river, then mother and son take a bath in the frozen water of the river; It was believe that this bath will make the mother and the baby more resistance to the cold of the andes.

The inca women was always under the command of men, unless they became widows, so then the widow will became the head of the family; The inca mythology give to the women an active role during the incas origins, there are stories that describe female inca warriors; One of this myths talk about Mama Huaco, head of the inca army, she attach the tribes that use to live in Cuzco, in the middle of the battle Mama Huaco kill an enemy, open his thorax, rip off his lungs and blow inside them, that image scare the enemy and finally all of them scape terrified by Mama Huaco.

More than 4000 years ago the inca women participate directly in the final domestication of the llama, guinea pig, inca dog, etc; The women never stop doing something because even during the walking from one place to another, the women carry on knitting or weaving fibers; During the inca expansion, the armies were formed only when the crops were stored, the inca warriors were accompanied by their wives, who took care of them, feeding them and healing their injuries.

The single inca women had the special right to try a husband, in something call Servinacuyo, kind of test marriage, if during the test of the husband, the woman decide to go, the husband has no right over the children and the woman is free to go back to her original home, with her parents, bringing back her children; The new children were extremely welcome in the family because they were look as a future working force, for the family and the community; The Servicanuyo tradition is still in practice, in the highlands of Peru.

The marriage was very important for the incas society, because ones a man or woman is married, the full responsibilities and duties to the inca government begun, it was important for the inca government to married as many people as possible, so the incas organize meetings of single men and girls, to force them into marriage; The premarital sexual relations were not prohibited, but if a woman was raped, the responsible was kill by throwing him from a high mountain, his body was not buried, it was leave there to fed the animals.

The acllahuasi, was a house were inca women of all ages and all social levels where taken; The acllahuasi work as a kind of store house for pretty women, they were use as daily basis to produce high quality textiles, alcoholic drinks for ceremonies and to use this women as wifes for authorities; Some of this women must stay virgin for life, if a woman lost her virginity, she was kill in public together with the men that seduce her, just to make everybody to understand that this women belong to the inca king.

The inca women recruited in the acllahuasi were call Acllas and they were: The Yurac Aclla, all of them were blood related with the inca king, with a for life virginity vote; The Huayrur Aclla, they were the most beautiful, used as secondary wives or concubines of the inca king; The Paco Aclla, they will become wifes of authorities or noble warriors; The Yana Aclla, they work as peasants for the Acllahuasi; The Taqui Aclla, they were chosen by their lyric and show capabilities, to entertain the royal family.

The Yurac Aclla were the only inca women that stay for life inside the acllahuasi, once they became older, they change their name into mamaconas and work as teachers for the new generations of women; All woman, during the inca empire, have the freedom to choose a husband, have an abortion, premarital sex or to became a female warrior; But at the end, the true is that the inca culture treat the women as an object.

See Inca Women History Tours

Do you have
any Questions?
Ask Me!

Anonymous Chat