This may be received as pleasant and very certain history, for Manco Inca assumed the fringe or sovereign crown in Cuzco, and many Spaniards are still living who were present at the ceremony, and I have heard it from them. It is true that the Indians say that the ceremony was more solemn and magnificent in former times, and was performed with such sumptuous riches as could not be enumerated.
It would seem that these lords arranged the ceremony for assuming the fringe or crown, and they say that Ayar Cachi dressed in the same manner, on this same hill of Guanacaure. He who was to become Inca was dressed, on one day, in a black shirt painted with red patterns and no collar, and on his head a fawn-coloured plait twisted round. And he wore a long grey mantle, in which dress he came forth from his lodging and went into the fields to gather a wisp of straw, and he had to stay out all day doing this, without eating or drinking, for it was his duty to fast. And the mother and sisters of the former Inca had to remain spinning with such diligence that, during that one day, they had to spin and weave four dresses, fasting all the time. One of these dresses consisted of a grey shirt and white mantle, and another had to be all white, and the other had to be blue, with cords and trimmings. He who was to become Inca had to wear these dresses, and to fast for the appointed time, which is one month, and they call this fast _zaziy_.[79] It is kept in a lodging of the royal palace, without seeing light or having connection with a woman. During this time of fasting the ladies of his lineage have to work very hard to make a great quantity of _chicha_ with their own hands, making it from maize, and they must be richly dressed. After the time of fasting is passed, he who was to be lord came forth, carrying a halberd of gold and silver in his hands, and he proceeded to the house of some venerable relative, where his hair had to be shorn. Then, clothed in one of these dresses, he left Cuzco, where this festival was held, and went to the hill of Guanacaure, and performed certain ceremonies and sacrifices. He then proceeded to where the wine was kept, and drank. The Inca then went to a hill called Anaquar, and from the foot of it he ran, that the people might see whether he was agile, and would be valiant in war. Presently he came down, carrying a little wool on the halberd, in token that when he fought with his enemies, he would bring away their hair and the heads with it. This done, the Inca returned to the hill of Guanacaure. Here he and his courtiers gathered straw, and he who was to be Inca had a very large bundle of it, made of very fine gold of equal lengths. With this he went to another hill called Yahuira, and there he put on another of the dresses, and on his head a plait or _llautu_ called _pillaca_,[80] which is like a crown, underneath which were ear-ornaments of gold, and on the top a tuft of feathers sewn like a diadem, which they call _puruchuco_.[81] On the halberd they fastened a girdle of gold which reached to the ground, and on his breast was placed a moon of gold. In this dress, and before all who were present, he killed a sheep, the body and blood being divided among all the principal people, to be eaten raw. The signification of the ceremony was that if they were not valiant their enemies would eat them, as they were eating the sheep that had been killed.