MAMA QUILLA, THE MOTHER MOON.

The Inca culture of Western South America were a very advanced, wealthy culture with sophisticated record-keeping, astronomy and art. The Inca had a very complex religion that incorporated many aspects of the sky and nature. The Inca had a pantheon of major gods who had an individual personalities and duties and one of their most important deities was Mama Quilla, the moon.
Mama Quilla was known as "Mother Moon"and was generally the 3rd deity in the Inca pantheon, after the god of the sun, Inti, and the god of thunder, Illapu. However, she was viewed as more important than Inti by some coastal communities, including by the Chimu. Relatives of Mama Quilla include her husband Inti, and her children Manco Capac, first ruler of the Incas, and Mama Ocllo, his sister and wife.
Mama Quilla was venerated because of her admirable beauty and the benefits she bestows upon the world.
Mama Quilla was important for calculating the passage of time and the calendar, because many rituals were based upon the lunar calendar and adjusted to match the solar year.
The Incas could not predict solar or lunar eclipses and when one occurred, it tend to trouble them greatly. The priests and priestesses would attempt to figure out why the gods were diepleased, and sacrifices would be offered. The Inca rarely practiced human sacrifice, but an eclipse sometimes was considered a deep cause to do so. The reigning Inca would fast  for days after an eclipse and would fear lunar eclipses as they believed that during the eclipse, an animal, usually the jaguar, was attacking Mama Quilla. Consequently, they would attempt to scare away the animal by beating their dogs to make them howl and bark, or by throwing weapons, or by gesturing and making as much noise as possible. They believed that if the jaguar achieved its aim, then the world would be left in complete darkness, letting the jaguar crash to Earth to eat its people. The jaguar's assault explained the rusty or blood-red color that the moon often turned during a total lunar eclipse.
Mama Quilla had her own temple in Cuzco, served by priestesses dedicated to her. She was imagined as a human female, and images of her included a silver disc covering an entire wall. She was also believed to cry tears of silver.