The INCAS, the SKY WATCHERS of the AMERICA' s Land.

Many built structures from Chile to Alaska have been demonstrate to be observatories and also models of the universe in miniature. They were done according to their levels of understanding like their European counterparts. Most of them show a pattern in the understanding of the levels of existence: the earth plus an upper and under worlds. The role of the spiral galaxy of which our solar system is part of, and of which we can only see the CENTRAL part from Earth (Milky Way), played an important role in the understanding of their religious beliefs. It was regarded as the path travelled by spirits, deities, and shamans in trance.
The INCAS that in their time controlled the largest territory in the history of the Americas, the MILKY WAY was, and still is, referred to a RIVER flowing to the SKY. Its source is said to be terrestrial, the VILCANOTA River, which runs SouthEast / NorthWest through the HEART of PERU.
The Vilcanota and the Milky Way are said to be mirror images of one another. During the twilight periods of the Solstices, the Milky Way form a CROSS in the sky. This Cross touches the FOUR POINTS on the horizon in which the Sun rises and sets during the EQUINOXES. Further it divides the STARS into FOUR separate directional QUARTERS.
The Inca creation myth says that VIRACOCHA, the Creator God, himself followed the primary axis of the Milky Way (southeast to northeast) on his journey from Earth to the Upper World after creation had been completed. The HUACAS whom the Incas asked for prosperous lives abided in the Upper World and the Milky Way was the channel through which they were connected and the shrines functioned as portals.
Just after the JUNE solstice, absolutely every noble from all over the Inca Empire was required to come to Cuzco for the most important time of the year for "The Solemn Feast of the Sun," the INTI RAYMI.
The ceremony was a "centering of the Universe" around the Inca in the Temple of the Sun.
Cuzco was the center of the Inca's religious power as the Sun was the center of our planetary system. All of them established a harmony in connection with the gravitational order of things as the Milky Way lends order to the universe. It was tucked high in the Andes Mountains of South America and had a huge central square for festivals and gatherings. The commoners only entered the city plaza on festival days.The Temple of the Sun was designed with six shrines around the courtyard. In the inner shrine only the ones of royal blood were allowed to enter given the fact that the gravitational alignment required excessive force, only them were prepared to absorb such a power. The room housed a heirloom handed down from king to king. It was the ancestors' symbol of parallelism between the Milky Way's function in the sky and the Inca's function on Earth. A new palace was built each time a new king came to power. That is because the old palace was still in use. The Incas mummified their kings and left them inside their palace. Life servants and all his family continued to live in as if they were alive.
The preparation for this ceremony was carefully followed. The timing in the religious calendar coordinated with exactly the time in which the Milky Way aligned with the Vilcanota River. It symbolized the union of Heaven and Earth and the Sun from which the Inca was a descendant, symbolically rose and set in the Milky Way. The Inca was the representation of the whole Earth paying homage to the Creator of things in the rising of the Sun.