Inca women used to marry at the age of sixteen already, with men around the age of 20, as only then they were to marry. Quite remarkably, men of lower social class within the Inca Empire could only marry one wife, whereas men from higher classes could marry several more women. Besides these normal marriages, trial marriages were quite normal as well. In this type of marriage, the man and the woman agreed to being married to one-another for a few years. After the period, the woman could decide to return to her family and the man could decide to send her home, if the marriage did not seem to work out. However, once the marriage was made a final, they could only divorce if the woman was childless.
For most women, it was normal to marry men from the same social class. Therefore, if a woman wanted to climb the ladder of the social classes, she had to make sure a man from a higher class would take notice of her appearance within a lower social class.
A typical Inca wedding lasts at least 2 days . On the first day, the ceremony takes place at the family's house of the groom and on the second day, the whole ceremony takes place again but then in the family's house of the bride. During the ceremony, the family members repeat the responsibilities of how to be a good groom and the bride.
After the ceremony in which they are bonded as man and wife, they are washed with holy water for blessing. After the people celebrate the wedding with food & beverages, typically alcohol and soup. Also, do the groom and bride dress up typically, as well as the others closely involved in the ceremony.
In contrast to Western-like weddings, a wedding within the Inca society was not seen as a cheerful celebration. In fact, it is perceived as a sort of business agreement between the two persons involved. Rather, it was an economic agreement between two families to provide more economic solvency to each other. The tasks of a woman do not seem to have ever changed, as here in Ecuador, the perception is still present that women take care of the household and men work.
The indigenous people we contacted for this blog mentioned that the indigenous people are influenced by the modern world, but their rituals remain unchanged. It was more in the sense of the children dealing with the modern world and going to school but they don't lose their apprentice and respect for the Indigenous community. Marriage still takes place in the very early years of one's maturity and thus, also children are born at an early stage in the life of the indigenous people.
The Inca community flourished in 1400 CE in Peru and extended to Quito in the North and to Santiago in the South. The Inca empire in its greatest years consisted of the Pachacuti, Tupac Inca, Huayna Capac. The Quechua people are the current descendants of the Incas and live in the Andes region. Nowadays, the Quechua people account for a population of 10 to 11 million people, these are the direct descendants of the extinct Inca people.
*culled from www.gulliver.com.ec
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