Quechua
Title Text
Soma Mohammadi
Religion
The Quechua of South America believe in 2 religions. Catholicism and traditional Andean religion. Their belief in Christanity led them into believing heaven known as Hanan Pacha and hell which is known as Alchu Pach. They believe in a God that gives, but punishes as well. The God that they believe in created 3 eras divided into 5 periods.
The 3 eras are, the eras of the father, of the son, and of the holy spirit. In the first era God organizes the earth and the first people whom lived there, known as the "Naupa Machulas". God wasn't too pleased with the first era so God created the second era whose span was from the Inca empire to the present time. The third era is yet to come.
The people of South America have very strong beliefs towards the Christian inheritance, they believe in the body and spirit. They believe that the spirit is divided into two parts, one known as the anima-breath, which in some regions is related to health and the spiritual part of human beings while they are still alive.
The Quechua's believe that man have 4 animas and the women have 7. The other part of the spirit is the soul, that is what separates the body one the person is dead. After the person has died, their soul stays on the earth for another eight days to fulfill the desires he/she had but never got to accomplish, such as visiting a certain place, financial commitments, appointments, seeing relatives they hadn't seen in a long time, etc. IF the person led a good life the soul may go to God, or become a animal or a bad women if the person does bad things such as incest and witchcraft.
clothing
The quechua women wear skirts and blouses with lots of colorful woven shawls around their shoulders. As for men, they wear trousers, shirts and woven ponchos also known as capes. For their shoes, sandals are what the man and women both preferr to wear. The way they dress is very colorful.
Education
The quechua's are required to go to school for education until the age of sixteen. However, the percentage of students who finish their schooling is very low because the kids play a huge role in the household and agricultural tasks and their time cannot be spared.
economics
Most Quechua people rely on farming for their lives. Corns, potatoes and grains are what help them survive. Although they do some trading with their products such as textiles, belts, hats and other handicrafts for cash.
Most of the communities, there is usually a weekly market day, which plays an important role in the economic and social fabric of the village.
Marriage customas
Marriage plays a huge role for the Quechua people. Most unmaried people meet (and flirt) at the communities festivals. Once a young couple get interested in one another and decide to consider marriage, the guys family must visit the girls family. The guy who stays home while his parents and godparents discuss the wedding and negotiate what each family will donate to the newlyweds.
Once that's all discussed, the engagment is offical at a later date once the bride and the groom exchange rosaries. At their wedding there will be a public procession as the bride leaves her families home to join her husbands family in their new community.
As an anthropologist..
The Quechua people have a belief that is very similar to the Functional Theory, they have the idea that every belief, action, or relationship in a culture functions to meet the needs of the individuals stresses independence among all things.
This also goes back to the way they practice their religion, or the way they dress.
