JASO - Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology - University of ...

308 Juan M Ossio
the child receiving the name of the saint who is celebrated on the day it was born.
This is done under the sponsorship of a padrino, with whom the child's parents
form a compadrazgo relationship. From this point on, if the child dies its soul becomes
an angelito because, due to his innocence, the only spiritual realm he can go
to is la gloria, where children spend their time tending cultivated fields owned by
God. Given this joyful destiny, wakes for these children must be happy. Their
corpses are dressed in white robes to convey the image of an angel and are lain on
a decorated piece of scenery. To increase the joy associated with this destiny, the
attendants dance to the rhythm of musicians hired by the padrinos. At midnight the
corpse, resting inside a small coffin, is taken by the padrino if male, or the
madrina if female, to the cemetery accompanied by noisy fireworks. Burial takes
place on the eastern'side of the cemetery.
When I asked one informant what the age limit was for this kind of funeral, I
was told that it was up to twelve, after which children would be buried like adults.
Casaverde notes of Kuyo Grande (Cuzco Province) that 'The souls of children
who have not known the world (have not had sexual experiences) have the right to
fly directly to Heaven ... ' (1970: 202). In other words, it would seem that children
are buried as adults once they develop their sexual potential. However, as we shall
see, it would appear that it is not the sexual act itself which is considered significant,
but rather the possibility of incestuous relationships developing.
Throughout the Andes incest is considered to be the most serious offence. It is
widely believed that if somebody commits this fault, different punishments may
fall on him or her and on society. If the members of a community find somebody
guilty of this transgression, the sentence is expUlsion. However, even if those responsible
are not discovered, there is still a belief that supernatural sanctions may
fall upon them. One very widespread belief is that incestuous people turn into qarqachas
while still alive, and into condenados when they die. The term qarqacha .is
an onomatopoeic derivation from qar-qar, the sound emitted by these incestuous
beings, who adopt an animal form as dogs, pigs, llamas, giraffes, etc., all with the
peculiarity of having disproportionately long necks or flying heads. At night they
roam the isolated parts surrounding the villages causing susto to those who meet
them. Since susto may be overcome, it is said that some people take a chance, and
instead of running away from these beings they seek to injure them with a knife, so
that when they return to their normal condition they might be recognized and
possibly blackmailed. Condenados, on the other hand, are unanimously regarded
as being more dangerous because one of their means of obtaining salvation is to
eat three human beings. They are generally thought of as wandering at the edge of
communities wearing iron sandals from which sparks fly. Since no adult is free
from having committed incest, funerals associated with this stage of life have to be
understood in terms of this ideology, which emphasizes the protection of the living
and therefore of society more than the destiny of the deceased's soul.