''Taki Unquy'' (
Quechua, Hispanicized and alternative spellings ''Taqui Ongoy'', ''Taki Oncoy'', ''Taqui Honcoy'', ''Taqui Onccoy'', ''Taki Onqoy'') was a
millenarian
Millenarianism or millenarism () is the belief by a religious organization, religious, social, or political party, political group or Social movement, movement in a coming fundamental Social transformation, transformation of society, after which ...
Indigenous movement of political, religious and cultural dimensions which arose in the
Peruvian Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...
during the 16th century (c. 1564 - c. 1572) in opposition to the recent
Spanish arrival.
Historical background
The literal translation of ''Taki Unquy'' from
Quechua is "sickness of the chant" or "dancing sickness". The intrinsic Andean connotation is difficult to translate.
The name comes from the Andeans contemporary to the
Conquista
The Spanish colonization of the Americas began in 1493 on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) after the initial 1492 voyage of Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus under license from Queen Isabella I of C ...
, who believed that the
wak'as were annoyed by the expansion of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. The wak'as, Andean spirits, began taking possession of the Indigenous people, making them dance to music and announce divine will to restore the pre-Hispanic culture, mythology and politics.
''Taki Unquy'' arose in the 1560s in
Huamanga,
Ayacucho
Ayacucho (, , derived from the words ''aya'' ("death" or "soul") and ''k'uchu'' ("corner") in honour of the battle of Ayacucho), founded in 1540 as San Juan de la Frontera de Huamanga and known simply as Huamanga (Quechua: Wamanga) until 1825, i ...
, Peru, from where it spread to
Huancavelica,
Lima
Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
,
Cusco
Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous Cusco Province, province and Cusco Region, department.
The city was the cap ...
,
Arequipa
Arequipa (; Aymara language, Aymara and ), also known by its nicknames of ''Ciudad Blanca'' (Spanish for "White City") and ''León del Sur'' (Spanish for "South's Lion"), is a city in Peru and the capital of the eponymous Arequipa (province), ...
,
Chuquisaca, and
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
. At the outset the movement was called "The revolt of the Wak'as", which promulgated the rejection of the
Christian god that had been imposed by way of violent coercion during Spanish conquest. Furthermore, the movement promoted the return to worship of the huacas, which are dually the pre-Hispanic gods and the grounds in which their worship was practiced.
Religious characteristics
According to the new belief, the wak'as' powers were within neither stones nor trees nor lagoons as in time of the Incas, instead they would enter into the bodies of people:
Paraphrased Translation:
Transformation into political revolt
From a rebellion against Christianity, the ''Taki Unquy'' devolved rapidly into a political revolt with an ideology in keeping with
Andean
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...
tradition. It was believed that the huacas would return with all their might and would defeat the Spanish God, as well as the peninsular invaders, re-establishing the equilibrium to a world wracked by the conquest.
Repression
The visible leader of the movement was an Indian by the name of
Juan Chocne. The revolt was harshly suppressed by the official representative of the Spanish Crown, the (''visitador'')
Cristóbal de Albornoz, who collaborated with the future chronicler
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala
Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala (Fane, 165after 1616), also known as Huamán Poma or Waman Poma, was a Quechua nobleman known for chronicling and denouncing the ill treatment of the natives of the Andes by the Spanish Empire after their conquest of ...
. He took Chocne and the other spiritual leaders to Cusco where they were to reject their beliefs in public. The women participants were imprisoned in convents and the
Kuraka
A ''kuraka'' ( Quechua for the principal governor of a province or a communal authority in the Tawantinsuyu), or curaca (Hispanicized spelling), was an official of the Andean civilizations, unified by the Inca Empire in 1438, who held the role o ...
s were fined for their participation in the revolt.
Conclusion
The movement declined in a few years, it is estimated that the practice ended in 1572, but the hope of a "reconquest" survived in the folklore and in intellectual circles. Bruce Mannheim argues that the fear may have been so strong that fifty years later, when
Juan Pérez Bocanegra printed the Quechua hymn "
Hanacpachap cussicuinin," he conspicuously avoided the term ''unquy'', though it would fit well into the theme alongside other names of the
Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as Seven Sisters and Messier 45 (M45), is an Asterism (astronomy), asterism of an open cluster, open star cluster containing young Stellar classification#Class B, B-type stars in the northwest of the constellation Tau ...
.
[Bruce Mannheim, "A Nation Surrounded," in ''Native Traditions in the Postconquest World'', ed. Elizabeth Hill Boone and Tom Cummins, 383-420 (Dumbarton Oaks, 1998), 400-401.]
Transcendency and importance of the movement
The topic had remained in obscurity for decades, and was reinvigorated by the work of Peruvian historian
Luis Millones in 1964. Since that time it has been the subject of revision and analysis, having aided in understanding problems in the contemporaneous Peru, such as the historical process of Andean insurrections against the Spanish. Until that date, it was believed that other movements such as that led by
Manco Inca II,
Juan Santos Atahualpa, or even the late
Tupac Amaru II rebellion, had only political aspects, and the cultural and religious dimensions were not given salience, which the study of ''Taki Unquy'' has allowed.
The concept of ''Taki Unquy'' transcended the borders of Peru when the Argentine singer/composer
Victor Heredia published an album titled ''
Taki Ongoy'' in 1986.
The playwright, director and actor
Hugo Bonnet Rodriguez, born in
Azangaro, Puno, crafted a play titled "Taki Onqoy". The play was about the repentance shown by the Andeans after having helped the Spanish destroy the
Incas
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...
, and their sorrow for the subsequent historical changes. The play may be found in the book by the same name, ''Taki Onqoy'', along with other works by the author.
See also
*
Inkarri
The Inkarri (or Inkari and sometimes Inkaríy) myth is one of the most famous legends of the Inca. When the Spanish conquistadores executed the last ruler of the Inca people, Atahualpa, he vowed (according to the legend) that he would come back on ...
*
Syncretism
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...
*
Ghost Dance
Notes
Bibliography
*
Doig, F. K. (2002). ''History and art of ancient Peru''. Volume 6, p. 1000. (Uncl. Mentioned report arrives of testimony of Christopher Ximénes On the Taqui Oncoy mentioned in the above-mentioned work).
* Soriano, W. E. (1987). ''Los Incas''. Lima: Amaru.
* del Pino, A. T. (2001). ''Encyclopedia Ilustrada del Perú''. Lima: PEISA.
External links
The Hidra of thousand heads - History of the social movements
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taki Unquy
Inca mythology
Native American religion
Politics of Peru
Politics of Bolivia
Politics of Chile
Indigenous topics of the Andes