The Fall of the Golden Empire (Novel) (Volume 1) "Bloody Sunset" by Zhang Baotong
In the center of Quito's Royal Palace Square stands a tall stone pillar that uses the shadow of the sun to measure time. In order to establish the dates of the winter solstice and spring equinox of the year, four tall round towers were built on the east and west sides of the city of Quito. Because the Inca calendar has 12 months in a year, each month has 30 days. One week is 10 days, 3 weeks per month. Five days are added every year, and one day is added every four years. The beginning of the year is the winter solstice. The winter solstice was the most important day of the year to the Incas.
Every year on June 24, when the southern hemisphere welcomes the annual winter solstice, the sun moves to the farthest position from the equator, and the Andes Mountains enter a harsh winter. On this plateau with an average altitude of more than 3,000 meters, everything on earth will have difficulty sustaining life once it is separated from the light and warmth of the sun. The ancient Inca tradition believed that once we leave the protection of the sun god, the human world will be lost in the infinite darkness of the universe. Based on this fear of darkness and yearning for light, the ancient Incas held a grand sun festival celebration every winter solstice to thank the sun god Inti for the light and warmth he had bestowed on the earth in the past year. Pray that the Sun God will continue to bless the Inca Empire with prosperity and victory in every battle in the coming year.
However, because Quito is located near the equator and has a tropical rainforest climate, it enjoys uniform and abundant sunshine all year round, with an average temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius and high humidity. Therefore, the winter solstice here is still sunny and full of spring. Originally, the Sun Festival was held every year in Cusco, Kyoto. Under the auspices of the Inca high priest, the Inca king, the Inca queen, and the Manchu civil and military officials all participated. As the religious and political center of the Inca Empire, ordinary people were not allowed to enter the imperial capital on weekdays. They could only set foot on this sacred land on the day of the Sun Festival. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of people gather in the central square of Cusco every year when the Sun Festival is held. The Sun Festival was the most solemn religious sacrifice and secular feast during the Inca Empire. However, the late King Huayna Capac had been living in Quito for many years, so the city of Quito also began to hold a sun festival on the day of the winter solstice every year, and it formed a habit and custom.
Sun Yat-Sat is held in the Sun Temple. The Inca Sun Temple was called Coricancha, which means Garden of Gold. The Incas built five kinds of celestial temples in it, including the Sun Temple, the Moon Temple, the Star Temple, the Thunder Temple and the Rainbow Temple. These temples were built near the main palace of the Royal Palace of Cusco. However, the late King Huayna Capac also built the Temple of the Sun in Quito in order to hold a sun festival in Quito. It’s just that the Temple of the Sun in Quito is not as grand, tall and magnificent as the Temple of the Sun in Cusco. Because the Temple of the Sun in Cusco is completely paved with gold, with gold foil on the walls, and inside are the mummies of the Inca kings with gold as the base. Its Moon Temple houses the mummies of various queens.
The Temple of the Sun in Quito is a white house built with flat stone slabs, made of exquisite materials and as smooth as a mirror. The ceiling is covered with very neat straw. There is a castle-like tower next to the white house. This temple is obviously inferior to the Temple of Cusco in terms of size and luxury. Although there are no mummies of the late king and late mother in its main hall, there are solid gold statues of them.
The main entrance of the temple faces north and south. In addition to the main entrance, there are also several small doors for the entry and exit of the temple's clergy. Both the main entrance and the small door are covered with door-shaped gold foil. On the top of the outer wall of the temple, there is a gold rim, made of a very wide gold plate, shaped like a crown, surrounding the entire temple.
The main altar faces east from the west, and the wooden roof is very high to facilitate air circulation. Because the Incas did not know how to lay tiles, the outside was covered with thatch. The four walls of the temple are covered with gold foil from top to bottom. On the main altar, there is a statue of the sun god, which is made of a double layer of gold foil, thicker than the gold foil covering the wall. The idol has a round face, integrated with its light and flames, just like those painted by modern painters.
The Temple of the Sun in Quito is at the intersection of the bustling street one kilometer away from the Royal Palace and Fugui Street. In front of the temple is a wide square. Common people are not allowed to enter except for worship and major festivals. However, every major festival or celebration, many people will gather in the square, light bonfires, and sing and dance. , partying all night long. There is a stone sculpture of a man standing on both sides of the temple gate. The stone sculpture is tall and straight, soaring into the sky, symbolizing the prosperity of the descendants of the Incas for generations. On the edge of the square is the wide royal marching avenue.
This was the winter solstice in 1528. In the afternoon before, many people came to the square of the Temple of the Sun. They took off their shoes and socks, went barefoot, and entered the square. As long as they enter the square, they have entered a realm where they must go barefoot. Because there is a boundary line two hundred steps from the temple gate, and this boundary line is also found on the south, east and west sides. Once you reach this line, you must take off your shoes and socks.
People who entered the square lit piles of bonfires in the square, played trumpets, played music, sang and danced around the bonfires all night long. There are also many people walking on the roads and paths leading to Quito late at night. The torches they hold are flashing in the mountain wilderness. Their songs and carnivals alarm people in the villages along the way. Someone joined their team and headed towards the city of Quito. After they came to the square in front of the Sun Temple, they lit a bonfire in the square, sang and danced together and caroused all night long.
Before dawn, tens of thousands of men and women wearing colorful clothes from different provinces and ethnic groups rushed to the square in front of the Temple of the Sun from towns and villages near Quito. They started singing and dancing in the square, beside the square or on the marching road. Sometimes people from one ethnic group were performing the songs and dances of their own tribe, and then people from other ethnic groups joined in. Finally, the whole square and Tens of thousands of people on the road began to sing the same song and dance the same dance.
This day is the most important sun festival day for the Inca people, and it is also the day of the wedding celebration of King Atahualpa of Quito and Princess Ana Yama.
Prince Atahualpa wanted to become king as soon as possible, and one of the big things he had to do before he ascended the throne was to marry Princess Anna Yama. Princess Ana Yama is beautiful, noble and elegant, and is called the "Goddess of Wisdom" by the Incas. This kind of woman was destined to become the Inca king's koya, that is, his wife. Because this is also the common wish of the Inca people. Therefore, if Prince Atahualpa, who was not born of pure Inca blood, wanted to become a king and be supported by the people of Quito, he must marry Princess Anna Yama.
According to the Inca marriage customs, everyone must get married, especially in the upper class society, polygamy is respected, and only those who are favored by the Inca Empire can practice polygamy. In the traditional concepts of the Inca people and the marriage customs of the royal family, there is great emphasis on the marriage of brothers and sisters to ensure the purity of the blood and prevent the property from falling into the hands of outsiders. Moreover, Inca royal law stipulates that the king's inheritance rights can only be given to men who have children when the king marries his sisters, and boys who have children between the king and other concubines have no inheritance rights. Many families of princes and nobles also take this as a norm and honor, allowing brothers and sisters to get intimate and get married together. Therefore, marriage and love between brothers and sisters are extremely common among princes and nobles, and they are also regarded as a kind of love. Pure and noble conduct. In the Inca Empire, ordinary people could only marry one woman, princes and nobles could have dozens of women, and other officials could marry different numbers of women according to the size of their official positions and regulations. For example, a larger village chief could marry up to seven women. The Inca king had thousands of concubines, but he could only have one wife, and this wife was his sister. It is very easy for a king to obtain concubines. As long as he likes a woman, she can become his concubine. However, marrying a wife requires a grand wedding.
In the Inca kingdom, the first wife a man married served as the "chief of wives" and remained so until her death. She is the only officially recognized wife and can never be ignored or abandoned; all other wives must obey her orders. If she dies, her husband can marry a new first lady, but not from among his other wives. This custom prevents other wives from fighting each other over the title of first lady. The second wives were often former nannies who remained in charge of the children well into their adulthood, teaching the children the pleasures of the flesh at the behest of their parents. Another way the Incas acquired other wives was through plundering in war, with women from defeated tribes being distributed among the victors' armies. Inheritance also became a way to obtain concubines, and a son could inherit the concubines of his deceased father, or his deceased brother. Concubines were often given as rewards to those who were brave. The Incas did not divorce, nor were they allowed to abandon each other. Moreover, having an affair with someone else after marriage is considered illegal and punishable by death.
In fact, Princess Anna Yama was not Prince Atahualpa’s first wife. The king’s concubines were all the king’s wives. When the prince inherited his father's throne, he had already inherited his father's palace and concubines. It can be said that before Prince Atahualpa married Princess Anna Yama, he already had more than 1,500 virgins in the Virgin Palace and a large group of concubines in the palace. However, those women were only the wives of princes. Only women who were officially married and recognized by the princes of the political council would be called the wife of Keya, and were regarded by the people as the daughter of the sun, the mother of the moon, and the mother of the Inca people. Because of this, marriage was considered very important to the Incas.
If the prince marries the first sister but does not produce a son, he must marry the second and third sisters until a son is born. Because allowing the prince to intermarry with his sisters can make the crown prince the legitimate successor from both parents' perspective. And if the prince marries a woman of other bloodlines, the crown prince will metamorphose through the maternal line. Therefore, King Inka has three types of children: those born by his wife are the legal heirs to the throne; those born by blood relatives are legitimate children by blood; and those born by foreign women are mixed-race children. If the legitimate wife has no children, the legitimate eldest son by blood can legally succeed to the throne. If the eldest son dies, the other sons will take over according to their age, but mixed-race sons will never be allowed to succeed. If there is no legal son by blood, inheritance rights revert to the nearest legal male blood relative. However, Atahualpa is an exception. He is a mixed-race son with Quito blood. In fact, the Inka kings kept their sisters as wives because they could only marry the king, and the throne always required an heir.
