RUMIMAKI - Story of an artist ...

... His father, also a master, taught him since he was a child but due to an accident in his right hand he could not continue and had to work in agriculture. RUMINAKI thought about Villca’s words: People need to feel the fear of Gods...We need your hands to show the ferocity of our Gods… Then, RUMIMAKI’s father saw him and asked him what happens. RUMIMAKI told his father about his next meting with the Villca and told him about his fear. He said that the task was too much for him. How can I tilling a God? RUMIMAKI had been chosen by the Villca because his skills in stone. He had done everything, knives, keros, vases and stone heads, but a God? Besides, he needs a warrior God. A warrior¡¡ Why , we do not have enemies¡¡¡. His father, then sat beside him and started a conversation that would last all night. His father told him that his ancestors had dominated an inmenese empire . People came from everywhere and far Ayllus to consult with Villcas and our Gods, because they needed to know about harvest, rain and future; --( 300.00 square meters)-- was filled with people who came with animals, gifts, plants and food . Villcas told them about rains and harvest; told them when to plant and when to harvest ; perople came back because all predictions were met. Our Villcas know the Gods. They talk with them. They receive God’s instructions and know that because all populations do what our Villcas say because they know that Gods protect us. However, people are not coming anymore and something is going to happen . Gods are annoying .Villcas know what to do . You should go and do what you are requested to do. RUMIMAKI's father knew that a meeting with Villca before the sun comes out, meant a ritual with Gods, since that was the time for rituals, but he did not tell him that. RUMIMAKI’s father felt proud and honoured, because his son had been choosen.

04: 00am RUMIMAKI meets the Villca in the old temple . The Villca told him to come inside with him. No one enters the temple, where are the Gods, he said and the Villca replied: This is an important subject for Gods, so you are allowed to enter. He was frightened but also flattered. They began to fall by a series of steps that led to some labyrinths which link with others. The darkness was increasing and then began to hear a noise that had not heard before and each time it rose in intensity progressly to the point that upon reaching the lowest underground point, about 5 meters deep, it was extremely terrifying. It was the house of God and those sounds come from the Jaguar-God, thought RUMIMAKI. He had never felt that fear before. He began to sweat and tremble but continue walking and then, a sunlight, like a beacon, iluminated a big stone figure , the Jaguar-God (the Lanzón); he stood 4 meters from him astonished; inmediately , as an instinct, RUMIMAKI dropped his head; he did not dare to see his eyes. The Villca told him to seat at side. He was there, listening the roar from Jaguar-God and the sight of his face, a mix between a man and a jaguar with two big tusks with a big head. After some minutes he started to calm down and looked at the Jaguar-God. He noted, however, that the God was with his right hand raised, like greetings. So, he is a nice God, he thought; he was not angry. He waited for more orders.

The Villca had taken him through the labyrinth because he wanted him to witness the ritual that was to begin. He had been chosen to sculpt the new face of God jaguar, different from what had been carved hundreds of years ago, so the Villcas thought that RUMINAKI need to commit directly. The Villcas speak with Gods and know how to interpret for the good of the inhabitants and know the future, like an Oracle. They knew how to do it because thy studied the stars, the movement of the sun, the equinox in March, when planting begins and when September ends. All this had led to the Empire Chavin be extended from the Temple until the Coast, North Coast and South. The first religious center of South americas, which would be tantamount to an ancient Rome or Jerusalem or Mecca because pilgrims from nearby and far Ayllus come to Chavin to hear the Gods talking through the Villcas. And that, generated more farm work, the production of maize increased dramatically, more people lived in Chavin and the exchange grew, the festivities were apoteósicas seed, came from all sides and with many products. It was a mixture between technology and mysticism, linked in either of the population, although managed by a minority whose creative skills enabled them to handle such vast empire. Minority that had to be an elite whose religious status allowed them to interpret the wishes of the Gods, which in turn, taught a mixture of adoration and fear.

But that was the past; today, people no longer came to Chavin. The offerings are and just was not enough. They had to regain the verve and power of the past to continue as vast empire. Therefore, Villcas said that the gods were angry and wanted blood and return to prosperity. The Gods are now carnivores, ferocious, but that ferocity is to turn the protection of the people from Chavin. Priests see that his power decreases, no longer receive goods and their needs are not covered, but now need more strength by threatening people, so Villcas have decided that RUMIMAKI sculpted a large stone with a new face of Jaguar-God, a furious and warrior face.

04:10 am Soon, more Villcas arrived to the sacred place for the San Pedro ritual (The Temple where the Jaguar-God is adored) along with the main Villca, who stood in front of Jaguar-God. He was using an elegant dress full of ornaments made of feathers and exotic stones, gold and jewels. Many jaguar , snakes and eagles draws. RUMINAKI has seen him before but never with that ropes.

Then, the principal Villca said:

The ceremony was beginning. Mute. Nobody can talk when they called Gods. The Villca put a folded mantle or poncho , and a Villca approached him with mullus (spondylus), two keros with ajha (chicha), two clutches of condor and two tusks of Jaguar and finally approached him with a pot of Wachuma (San Pedro cactus juice) . The main Villca began drinking the ajha and then took a sip of Wachuma. Then, the vessel passed to others and one by one were drinking. After the round, the vessel was returning again filled with Wachuma to the main Villca and he put it on the table. Some minutes later the Villca repeated its request to Jaguar-God and again a new round to drink Wachuma begun.

It took three hours with the same procedure. After that, the Chavin consciousness begun. At that moment of ecstasy, the chants became scenes; a process of transformation of the Villcas had taken place. Jaguar men, condor men and snake men appeared in secene. The gods had become in these antropophormes beings. The bodies of the Villcas were their tools. They were not men anymore. Screams announced famine and death. No rain. No food.

And , then, the principal Villca yield: blood. Blood , going out of his mouth bitten repeatedly to the live animals that were close to him. Gods wanted a sacrifice . The Jaguar-God now is a warrior God; a bloody God. The principal Uillca hurled a green liquid through his nose, but it was not snot. It was the reaction of the cactus San Pedro and he knew it well because he had seen it when a master was carving a stone head with that effect and he explained it to him.

The Uillca took two big thick sticks and yield again : blood. RUMIMAKI thought : that is the warrior God¡¡.

RUMINAKI only watched. He was scared but amazed . They were the gods who were appearing and speaking of the future and rains as well as misery and death.

While seeing the blood between the lips of the Villca, RUMIMAKI thought that he was going to see a human sacrifice, because that was also a sacred ritual when the times were difficult. His father had told him about that kind of rituals, which no one was allowed to see except the Villcas. There were times of alluviums and flood. The sacrifices were made to calm down the gods but also to bring goodness to inhabitants. Dead for life. Nevertheless, in this ritual there was none.

Little by little the Villca’s transformation was falling until reaching their human condition, again.

It was dawn and the ritual was about to finish. RUMIMAKI was a little bit dizzy . He did not drink Wachuma, but the ritual was an experience he did not expect to have and was too strong for him. Five meters under earth during almost 5 hours, with the noises that the Gods made and with Gods theirselves, had caused him a shock . RUMIMAKI changed and no more was going to be the same.

The Villca, with whom RUMIMAKI entered the temple, approached him and asked to him what he had seen. RUMIMAKI, simply said " I have seen a furious God " and the Villca answered to him: "Go to your panaca and find the best stone and carve it with what you have seen here.”

RUMIMAKI quietly went outside the temple . Once out a shinig sun left you blind for a moment, and when he could see again he begin to run,,,,he did not know why but he just run.

He had in his mind the furious face of the Villca with blood and the Jaguar God . He mix in his mind all what he had seen while running and running... going to his panaca.…

RUMIMAKI only thought in runing to reach his house and tell his father what he had seen.

He did not imagine that what he was going to carve would be recognized in the coming centuries as main god. He was going to carve what we call today the “Estela Chavin" or "Estela Raimondi" as it is also called due to his founder, Mr Antonio Raimondi. Today, considered a piece of art, by its incredible details.

He was sweating and excited with a face that his father was frightened. He told him all about the ritual. His father listened attentive and silent. At the end, his father told him: "You have a big job. The gods have chosen you, you should be proud."

RUMIMAKI, then start to talk about the new face of the Jaguar-God. , the warrior god. He had in his mind all the details : Furious, blood thirsty, warrior and strong ... and had to be the new Jaguar God. He was explaining the details exciting: his hands carrying two “báculos”, as he had seen the Uillca, a sign of power; those were their war weapons.

The “Estela Chavin” was going to be born but not only as a RUIMIMAKI's piece of art but for centuries as the sign of a warrior god, called also “the God of the Báculos” which is found carved in many stones which belong to cultures that followed Chavin, even in the Inca period.