Being raised Catholic, I have always thought of the Trinity as a symbol of divinity. The Inca also revered the number three, but in a different light than the Catholics. When Francisco Pizarro arrived in the Inca Empire in 1531 he found a land filled with polytheism. The Andean religions worshiped many gods, such as the Sun (Inti), Moon(Quilla), Stars, Mountains, and Water. When the Conquistadors came to the Inca Empire they also told the people that they could no longer practice their religions. This sketching on a wall of the cave indicates that the local people still believe in the power of three. Three stood for many different aspects. Some of these aspects include:-The three levels of the Univerese; heaven (Uku Pacha), earth (Kay Pacha), and the underworld (Hanan Pacha).
-The three animals; the condor, puma, and the snake. They represent the three levels of the world, respectively.
-The cosmos represented as three: the past and the interior world, the world of present and of here, and the future and the supra world.
-The three taxes the people pay: to their gods, reciprocity towards their neighbors, and the tax towards their kings.
Our tour guide for this part of the trip, Juan Carlos, told us about a ceremonial drink named ayahuasca (pronounced eye-ah-wa-ska). This drink is a hallucinogen that is believed to show the person their "true" self. The drinker must prepare for the ceremony a week in advance. Reportedly the drink has healing powers, curing the drinker of every illness from unluckiness to cancer. One nasty side effect of this drink is that the person will vomit for over a half-an-hour.
This photo was taken inside a cave near the Moon Temple, right outside of Cuzco. It is symbolic of the fact that the people still believe in the power of three. According to our guide, ceremonies are still held each night in the caves outside of Cuzco.
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