MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY'— GILLIN 



47 



themselves, although I have found no one who has 

 I crsonally seen or tasted this allegedly well-aged 

 brew. 



It is said that in Inca times all fiestas, as well as 

 deaths, etc., were celebrated with chicha. According 

 to Cieza dc Leon, nobles and plebians alike drank to 

 the point of being unable to hold their drinking 

 utensils in their hands (Valdizan and Maldonado, 

 loc. cit.)- According to Garcilaso de la Vega, chicha 

 was offered as a sacrifice to the sun, earth, and the 

 huacas. It was customary first to dip a finger halfway 

 into the chicha, gaze respectfully at the sun, and flip 

 a drop of the liquid off the finger. After this they 

 drank to their heart's content. During the Fiesta of 

 the Sun,^^ called by Garcilaso Intip Raymi, the Inca 

 drank from a gold vase and gave it to kneeling rela- 

 tives to drink from. This chicha was made by the so- 

 called Virgins of the Sun. The curacas, not being of 

 royal blood, met in another plaza, Cusipata, and were 

 given the unsanctified chicha which the Inca women 

 drank. According to Juan de Betanzos (1880).^' 

 the cult of the Orejones owes its origin to chicha. The 

 cult was founded, according to this source, by the 

 Inca Yupanqui who required the Incas to begin a 

 30-day period of fasting. Before starting they were 

 ordered to make four large jars of chicha. During 

 the 30 days the\- had nothing but chicha made by a 

 virgin. At the end of the month they were required 

 to drink all of the four large jars of the liquor at once, 

 whereupon they fell into an unconscious state and had 

 their ears bored before they regained consciousness. 



Although drunkenness was prohibited by Inca law 

 and repeaters were supposed to be executed, it seems 

 to have been fairly widespread, according to Guaman 

 Poma de Ayala (1936) . Lastres says — 



A people essentially idolatrous and superstitious, they had 

 to find release from their an.xicties in the immoderate use of 

 stupetacients. ."Knd chicha was the imperial drink of both 

 nobles and commoners. From its immoderate use came 

 psychic and organic upsets ranging from simple drunkenness 

 to the Halunmachav. or loss of judgment. [Lastres, 1941, 

 p. 122.] 



Thus, whatever else may be said about the "chicha 

 complex" in modern Moche, it seems to be directly in 

 line with the cultural usages of early (Mochica) as 

 well as late (Inca) prehistoric times. 



In Moche there is a sort of cycle involving eating 



and chicha drinking. It is thought necessary for adults 

 to '"settle" (sentar) all meals except breakfast with 

 chicha (although some individuals do not hesitate to 

 "settle" breakfast as well). At least one bowl of 

 chicha is essential for this process. "Ya z'atnos a 

 senior cl almuerzo" simply means, "Now that we have 

 had lunch, let's have a drink." Conversely, it is re- 

 garded as unseemly and unhealthy to consume any 

 considerable amount of chicha on an empty stomach. 

 Since one bowl of the liquor after lunch frequently 

 induces the desire to have another, and so on, drink- 

 ing and eating frequently progress hand in hand from 

 midday until bedtime.^" 



Fresh chicha (jrcsca) with little or no alcoholic 

 content is used, if available, as a thirst quencher at 

 breakfast and to be carried in bottles to the fields, etc. 

 This fresh drink is, of course, merely the regular 

 product before it has fermented (when it is called 

 chicha niadura). 



Judging by its effects (and not on myself alone), 

 well-matured chicha must have an alcoholic content 

 close to that of a heavy ale, perhaps 12 to 14 percent 

 by volume. The strength of the brew is increased up 

 to a certain point proportionately to the amount of 

 chancaca (brown cake-sugar) or sirup mixed with the 

 jora (mash made from sprouted grains of corn). 



Except for the probably excessive consumption of 

 alcohol which it induces, chicha in itself would seem 

 to be a comparatively healthful beverage. As will be 

 seen from the standard recipe in a later section (p. 

 .^3). it is made from sprouted corn or other grains. 

 This is not chewed up and spit out as is done in the 

 mainifacture of certain beers in the jungle portions 

 of South .•\merica. The mash, or jora, thus made is 

 then boiled with water for from 24 to 48 hours, which 

 is. of course, sufficient to kill contaminating germs. 

 The fermentation process serves the same end.^' It 

 is, however, in the etiquette of drinking that all atten- 

 tion to modern rules of cleanliness disappears. 



" Ciied by Valdizan and Maldonado (1922, vol. 2, p. "5); see 

 Garcilaso de la Vega (1919, vol. 2, pp. IS8-193). 

 ^ Cited by Valdizan and Maldonado, loc. cit. 



^ In a foomote in Prado (1894), 1941. p. 181, the late Dr. Pablo. 

 Patr6n sustains the thesis that aji and coca counteract the effects of 

 alcohol and he gives references which I have been unable to locate 

 that "English tlierapeutics" uses coca and aj\ to break the drink habit. 

 If there is any truth in this, so far as aji is concerned, might There 

 be something in the theory of aji as a counter irritant ? Or would it 

 be beneficial to alcoholics because of its allegedly high vitamin con- 

 tent? 



3s According to the anonymous author of "Relacion de las costumbres 

 antiguas de los naturales del Peru, Tres Relaciones . , ." 1S79, 

 the Inca physicians invented chicha as a means of preventing con- 

 tamination from infected water, and at least one modern physician 

 has recommended its use for this purpose, in order to prevent infec- 

 tion by drinking water in the campiiia of Arequipa. See Escomeii 

 (19131, cited by Valdizan and Maldonado, vol. 2, pp. 69 ff., 1922. 



