When the sky was overcast,
and the face of the good deity was hidden from his worshippers,
which was esteemed a bad omen, fire was obtained by means of
friction. The sacred flame was intrusted to the care of the
Virgins of the Sun, and if, by any neglect, it was suffered to go
out in the course of the year, the event was regarded as a
calamity that boded some strange disaster to the monarchy. *31 A
burnt offering of the victims was then made on the altars of the
deity. This sacrifice was but the prelude to the slaughter of a
great number of llamas, part of the flocks of the Sun, which
furnished a banquet not only for the Inca and his Court, but for
the people, who made amends at these festivals for the frugal
fare to which they were usually condemned. A fine bread or cake,
kneaded of maize flour by the fair hands of the Virgins of the
Sun, was also placed on the royal board, where the Inca,
presiding over the feast, pledged his great nobles in generous
goblets of the fermented liquor of the country, and the long
revelry of the day was closed at night by music and dancing.
Dancing and drinking were the favorite pastimes of the Peruvians.
These amusements continued for several days, though the
sacrifices terminated on the first. - Such was the great festival
of Raymi; and the recurrence of this and similar festivities gave
relief to the monotonous routine of toil prescribed to the lower
orders of the community. *32
[Footnote 31: "Vigilemque sacraverat ignem, Excubias divum
aeternas.
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