Читать книгу The Historical Child - Oscar Chrisman - Страница 28

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Human sacrifice was of rare event in Peru. This only occurred to mark some great public affair. The victims usually were children and beautiful maidens. They were selected from the various parts of the empire and they travelled in regular convoys, the children too young to walk being carried by their mothers. As they journeyed they received the adoration of all the people on the way. In offering them up as sacrifices, the priests strangled them or broke their necks with a stone implement, while with some the throat was cut and blood from the wound sprinkled on their faces. In some cases the hearts of the victims were plucked out and offered to the divinity. These sacrifices were never served up at feasts, as in Mexico, but all were buried in special cemeteries. Human sacrifice never came to be a great part of the religion of Peru under the Incas, as was the case in Mexico, and where it did occur there was never any cannibalism with it.