Huanca (monolith)

A huanca (in Quechua ancashino: wanka)[1] or chichic (tsitsiq)[2] is an elongated vertical stone considered sacred, with multiple symbolisms, in the Andean worldview.

Huanca, while monoliths, are similar to totems (from the Ojibwa word ototeman, meaning 'he is my kinship') of the Native American peoples of North America, as they are considered sacred and can symbolize the ancestor of a community, and thus fulfil a tutelar function.

Many have been found in the Callejón de Huaylas in the provinces of Recuay, Huaraz (Huancajirca, Pesebre, Markahirka), Carhuaz (Piruro II), Yungay (Cotu, Marcayoc, Keushu), Caraz (Pueblo Viejo) and Sihuas (Huayubamba).

However, according to ethnohistomical documents this concept referred to the sacrality of different things: stones, trees, places of nature, temples, people, animals and human experiences such as crying.

"Chíchic o Huanca llaman una piedra larga, que suelen poner empinada en sus Chácaras, y la llaman también Chacrayoc, que es el Señor de la Chácara, porque piensan que aquella Chácra fué de aquella Huaca, y que tiene a cargo su augmento, y como tal la reverencian, y especialmente en tiempo de las sementeras le ofrecen sus sacrificios".The cult of huancas was an Andean manifestation of the cult of the ancestors, which are a set of universal religious practices centered on the ancestors under the belief that they continue to care for their descendants.

Huanca in the Uquián ravag, on the way from Olleros to Chavín de Huántar, in the Huascarán National Park in Peru.
The huanca in the Ancient Temple of Chavín de Huántar, still positioned in a place that would adapt to the concept of axis mundi referred to by Mircea Eliade.
Huanca Stone in Caral .