Apu
Mythological Narrative
To Andean eyes the snow peaks are living lords. Apu is Quechua for 'lord', and every great mountain has one, ranked by height and reach: a low hill may answer for a single village's herds, while a glaciated giant commands a whole watershed. Around Cusco the most revered are Ausangate, 6,384 meters, and Salcantay above the Sacred Valley. Meltwater from their glaciers feeds the fields below, and the increase or ruin of the llama and alpaca herds is reckoned to the mountain's account.
The Inca state took the peaks into its official cult. Mountain shrines fill much of the Instrucción that the churchman Albornoz compiled to hunt out Andean holy places, and the greatest rite of all, the capacocha, sent richly dressed children up beyond the snowline to be offered on the summits with figurines of gold, silver and shell. Archaeology has borne the chronicles out: in 1995 Johan Reinhard found the frozen girl known as Juanita on Mount Ampato, and in 1999 three almost perfectly preserved children were recovered from Llullaillaco in Argentina, at 6,739 meters.
The faith is unbroken. In the Cusco region ritual specialists called paqos present despacho offering bundles to the mountain lords on their clients' behalf, and travelers add a stone and a pinch of coca to the cairns at high passes. Each year before Corpus Christi, tens of thousands of pilgrims climb to the Sinakara valley below Ausangate for Qoyllur Rit'i, the festival of the Snow Star — nominally in honor of an apparition of Christ, while the rite keeps its roots deep in the old veneration of glacier and mountain lord.
Classical Art & Museum Artifacts
High-resolution museum artifacts, classical sculptures, pottery reliefs, and bronze idols preserving authentic historical representations of Apu.
Terracotta hydria (water jar)
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Apu.
You Might Also Like
Pachamama
The Andean earth mother, keeper of soil, sowing and harvest, thanked with libations of chicha, coca leaves and burnt offering bundles. Her worship predates the Inca empire and continues today.
Illapa
The Inca thunder god, a sky warrior with sling and war club: his sling-crack is thunder, his flashing garments lightning, and he pours rain drawn from the celestial river. Under Spanish rule he merged with Santiago.
Inti
Sun god and royal ancestor of the Inca empire, pictured as a golden disk with a human face. The Sapa Inca ruled as his son; Coricancha and the June solstice feast were his.
Amaru
The great serpent of Andean myth, dwelling in highland lakes and underground waters, often two-headed in art, spanning the underworld, this world and the sky. Túpac Amaru took his name from it.