Manco Capac & Mama Ocllo

 

This is a story about the beginning of one of the biggest South American empires that ever existed.

It is about the founding parents of an entire civilization who did a super nice job laying the grounds for the construction of one of the most magical cities in the whole wide world.

The legend of Manco Capac & Mama Ocllo, the beginning of the Inca Empire.

Many many maaaany years ago before Taylor Swift, the iPhone or even Bernie Sanders existed, men lived in caves. They walked naked among each other hunting and collecting food in order to stay alive.

The Sun God, Wiracocha, saw this and decided to send his son Manco Capac and his daughter Mama Ocllo to teach this savages new awesome ways to do stuff and become civilized people.

Before sending them down to earth he gave Manco Capac a gold specter and said: “Manco and Mama, walk around the land and try to sink the stick in the ground. When it does sink then it means that you found the promise land and you should build our empire there”

The brother and sister/husband and wife (and they called the other ones savages) came out from the waters of Lake Titicaca in the highlands of Peru and followed their father’s command. They walked and walked trying to sink the specter in the land but the land was really really dry and the thing wouldn’t sink!

When they were feeling defeated and about to give up they decided to take a little break on the Huanacaure Mountain in the now well-known Cusco City. Suddenly the unexpected happened, yes, the specter sunk! It finally did! Both were over the top excited and probably danced around and had lots of fun.

Manco Capac was in charge of teaching the savage men how to take care of the land and show them about agriculture, finishing, construction, religion, etc. Mama Ocllo taught women about textiles and domestic labor (feminism was around seven centuries later).

And this is how the Inca Empire started and how Cusco city became the Capital of the Inca Empire, the “belly button of the world” and bearer of Machu Picchu, the hidden city of the Incas and world wonder.

Machu Picchu, Cusco Perú

 

CDLG