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Atoja
Mountain goddess who sends the rains.
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Axomama
Her name means "Potato Mother." Potatoes have been the staple
food of the peoples of the Andes since ancient days; they come in a wide
variety, which are only now being discovered by distributors in industrialized
nations.
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Cavicalla
A Peruvian myth. Coniraya, the moon god, is said to have shaped his sperm
into the likeness of a fruit which Cavillaca, a virgin goddess, unwittingly
ate, thereby becoming pregnant; she bore a son. She called all the gods
together and demanded to know who was the boy's father. When no one owned
up to it she placed the boy on the ground whereupon he crawled toward
Coniraya. Cavillaca, ashamed because the moon god was the poorest and
seediest of the gods, grabbed her son and ran away. When she reached the
coast of Peru she changed her son and herself to rocks.
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Cocomama
A goddess of health and happiness. Originally a promiscuous woman cut
in half by jealous lovers; her body grew into the first coca bush, whose
leaves men were not suppose to chew until they had satisfied a woman's
sexual needs. The ancient Peruvians believed coca brought health and happiness.
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Ka-ata-killa
Moon goddess from pre-Incan times, and queen of the giants. Worshipped
around Lake Titicaca.
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Mama
Allpa
Goddess of the harvest.
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Mamacocha
Wife of Viracocha, and goddess of the rain and the wind. She is the oldest
known deity in Peru. Fishermen are her chief worshippers.
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Nungui
(Lady of the Manioc) Among the Jivaro of Peru, she is an Earth Goddess
who oversees vegetation. She is honored as the Giver of Civilization.
The manioc is her special plant.
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Pachamama
The Earth Mother of the Chincha of Peru. She oversees planting and harvesting.
Some depict her as a great dragon who causes earthquakes. The supreme
god Pachacamac emerged from her, and she is also mentioned as his consort.
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Sheela
The consort of the Phallic King, she is representative of those proudly
sexual figures fired in clay by artisans of the Mochica culture, dating
from 1250 BCE through 800 CE, along the coast of Peru.
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Si
Children were sacrificed in the worship of this moon goddess.
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Topétine
Goddess of fire, represented as a jaguar.
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Zaramama
This "grain mother" was occasionally replicated in her own fields
in the form of strangely shaped ears of corn or ears that joined in multiple
growths. Sometimes these goddess images were dressed as human women in
a robe and shawl with a silver clasp; or they were created from precious
metals or stone. Sometimes, Zaramama came to earth in deformed cornstalks,
which were hung by her followers on willow trees; festive dances were
held around the willows, then the cornstalks were burned (assuring a plentiful
supply of corn) while the people drank fermented corn beer and ate the
meat of sacrificed llamas, whose blood was used to anoint their faces.
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