Inti Raymi

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century, the Incas held a celebration for the sun god Inti on the day of the winter solstice, following a period of fasting and sexual abstinence. The festival, known as Inti Raymi, was focused on a lengthy ritual that incorporated the sacrifice of dozens of llamas and the divination of the future from the animals’ entrails. Nowadays, Inti Raymi is celebrated by hundreds of thousands of people annually, though since 1944, a “very realistic stage act” involving the sacrifice of a single llama has been performed in lieu of the traditional Incan rite.

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