Ceramic Representation Sacrificial Ceremony

Replica of a ceramic vessel (huaco) depicting a scene from a sacrificial ceremony of the captive warriors, and the presentation of the cup to the great Moche gods from the Northern coast of Peru. This vessel (huaco) is about 1500 years old. The scene surrounds the body of the vessel (huaco), and there are some drawings in the spout and arched handle. A two-headed snake divides the globular body of the vessel (huaco) into two hemispheres: an upper and a lower one. In the lower section the sacrifice is represented. Two sacrificers approach the chests of two naked men who have their hands tied and are sitting backwards. The sacrificers hold bowls which will probably receive the offering to be presented to the gods of the upper world. The two-headed snake seems to hold in its hands the hearts of the sacrificed. In the upper section of the vessel (huaco) there are two main characters: a radiant god, with his characteristic conical warrior helmet, and a crescent-shaped element that resembles the tumi, or ceremonial knife, on top. An osprey approaches him. The osprey is a bird of prey that flies high, gets “close” to the sun, but that can also dive into the ocean water to fish, clearly linking the sunny, dry world of above and the humid world. This bird is the one who gives the cup to the radiant god. On the opposite side of the vessel (huaco) stands a character who wears a headdress that depicts two elements in the shape of the ears of an owl, a nocturnal bird of prey. He seems to be a god who rules over the humid and dark world, the god of the milky way, for its involvement with the night sky, the stars and the rain, therefore being an opposite and at the same time complementary to the radiant god. The opposition between the two characters is enunciated by their opposing positions on the vessel (huaco). Intermediating between the god of the milky way and the radiant god we see another character, who wears a long garment and has her hair arranged in braids ending in snakeheads. This is the moon goddess, who proceeds from the dark world to the world where the radiant god rules. She holds a goblet, which she begins to uncover in its procession. Being an agricultural society, the Moche understood the world as a universe populated by forces that allowed plants, animals, and therefore humans, to reproduce.