It was Thursday, August 7th, I woke
up feeling a bit startled by a strange dream I had round about dawn, and
wondered what it may mean. However, soon those worries disappeared and a
different feeling began to grow up in my heart as the time in the morning was
passing. Around 11:45 a.m. a taxi was in front of my house waiting for the
passengers it would take for a ride at that time.
My mom, my favourite aunt, my sister, my
two little twin nieces, and I were very excited for this was not going to be just
another ordinary trip, but a journey to the religious centre of the ancient
Moche culture: Huaca de la Luna. It
is in the Moche valley, 8 kilometers to the south of Trujillo city, in Peru. We
arrived after about fifteen minutes, and had to buy tickets. As a person told
us, the tickets had to be bought at Museo
Huacas de Moche, which is a museum situated a few meters off Huaca de
la Luna. So, I had to go there on my own to get the tickets, while my relatives
stayed by the entrance to the archaeological complex looking at some souvenirs.
When I finally got the tickets, we had to wait
for a tourist guide to come to lead us through the visit. He led us up a
sloping and winding road with some steps every few meters to a rear entrance to
the Huaca. As soon as we began the guided tour, he told us about the story of
the great people called the Moche,
who came into existence in the second century AD, and informed us that while Huaca de la Luna was the religious centre of this culture, Huaca del Sol was its political centre. Huaca de La Luna, which was a temple made of adobe bricks, is situated close to a
mountain called Cerro Blanco and
consists of five levels or storyes that were constructed one above another,
being the higher ones smaller than their predecessors and so the final building
had the form of a pyramid.
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| Huaca del Sol |
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| Interior of Huaca de la Luna |
In one of the lowest storyes there is a great
wall with a mural depicting the Moche god, the god of the mountain. It is
believed the Moche priests performed human sacrifices in Huaca de la Luna
to this god, called Ai Apaec, in
order to appease his wrath and thus stop floods and droughts. It is interesting
the images of this god on the mural are representations of his head and face
only. He is shown with big eyes (supposedly being based on the eyes of an
owl), a human nose, and feline teeth. This head is surrounded by wavy figures
that, according to the tourist guide, are an octopus’ tentacles.
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| Mural with Moche god |
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| Moche god, Ai Apaec |
In another floor there is a mural where, among
other figures, the guide stated a Peruvian dog is depicted, although in my
opinion it appears to be a fox for the tail of a Peruvian dog is thinner than
the one belonging to the animal depicted on the mural. This unique dog lacks
fur and its skin is warm, for this reason it is called perro calato (naked dog) in Peru; these features are very
attractive for people who want to have a dog but cannot because they are
allergic to animals’ fur. This breed of dog is named Viringo, and was regarded as a sacred animal by the ancient people
of the Moche culture. It is said these animals are good for helping ill people
to recover, particularly if they suffer from asthma. By the way, in the Huaca de la Luna archaeological complex two Viringo dogs are kept: a
male and a female.
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| Mural depicting a Peruvian dog |
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| Detail of the previous mural showing the Peruvian dog |
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| Female Viringo dog (Peruvian dog) |
Several cultures fostered in Peru before the
Incas, and among them the Moche culture is one which shows remarkable
developments in architecture, ceramics, and metalwork; and continues to thrill
and amaze archaeologists and anthropologists all over the world, particularly
when studying the religious beliefs and practices of these ancient people. I
encourage all the readers of this blog post to come and visit my country, Peru,
especially Trujillo city and the Moche valley, where you can still find warm
and friendly people, whose ability in ceramics and their delicious cuisine can
be traced back to their ancestors, the Moche.