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Article: Incan Religion
- Article from:
- Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Incan Religion
Like many ancient Andean people before them, the Incas viewed death in two ways. One was biological death, when the body ceased functionally and was cremated, buried, or mummified. The other was social death, when certain privileged individuals remained active in the minds, souls, and daily lives of the living until they were forgotten or replaced by other prominent figures. Some ancestors were never forgotten, however. They were considered heroic figures who gave the Inca their identity. Their corpses were mummified, revered, and saved as sacred objects. Ancestor veneration frightened the Spanish crown and clergy, who destroyed the burial chambers, or
huacas,
of these ...