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Holidays & Festivals

Qhapaq Raymi

Inca Festivals

Qhapaq Raymi (Royal Festival) was held around the December solstice and centred on the huarachikuy, the coming of age and initiation rites of young Inca noblemen, who were tested in feats of endurance, pierced through the ears to receive the noble earspools, and formally admitted to adult warrior status before the assembled nobility of Cusco. Chroniclers including Garcilaso de la Vega describe it as one of the four principal festivals of the Inca solar year alongside Inti Raymi.

Facts
Reckoning
Calendar System
No calendar: set directly by the sky 1
Its own record ties it to the December solstice and names it one of the Inca solar year's four principal festivals alongside Inti Raymi, already carried as astronomical.
Date Rule
Around the December solstice. 1
Fixed or Movable
Set by an astronomical event or computus 1
Observance
Observance Type
Rite of passage 1
Connections

Associated With

Cusco, Cities

This source names Cusco directly: "before the assembled nobility of Cusco."

Source Comentarios Reales de los Incas (Royal Commentaries of the Incas)Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca
Inca, Cultures

This source names Inca directly: "of age and initiation rites of young Inca noblemen, who were tested in feats of endurance, pierced through the ears to receive the noble earspools, and formally admitted to adult warrior status..."

Source Comentarios Reales de los Incas (Royal Commentaries of the Incas)Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca
Inti, Deities

This source names Inti directly: "of the Inca solar year alongside Inti Raymi."

Source Comentarios Reales de los Incas (Royal Commentaries of the Incas)Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca

Belongs to Tradition

Inca Religion, Religions
Source Comentarios Reales de los Incas (Royal Commentaries of the Incas)Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca

Follows Calendar

Astronomical Observation Dating, Calendars

Related To

Inti Raymi, Holidays & Festivals
Sources
1. Comentarios Reales de los Incas (Royal Commentaries of the Incas)
Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca, 1609on the Qhapaq Raymi and the huarachikuy initiationView the Source
The Incas, 2nd edition
Terence N. D'Altroy, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014on the Inca ritual calendar
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