Reviews 'A brilliant presentation of magnificent objects' UNESCO
Credits Director: Herbert Seggelke
90
13 minutes Color
12 to Adult
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Gods. Spirits and demons
between Andes
and Pacific
resurrected from sepulchers and shrouds,
revealed to our eyes
O Creator, thou who art at the end
of the world, thou without compare, thou
who givest mankind existence and being,
saying, "Be thou this man, be thou this
woman", watch over men, thy creation,
that they live, unharmed and joyful,
shielded from dangers and under the
mantle of thy peace.
The Indian peoples of ancient Peru, the
men of Moche and Nazca and the Chimu
they had no real alphabet,
the more vivid therefore the image of a
thousand years
that their artists have handed down to us.
And thus it might have been:
gods and demons sat in state over
the settlements,
and human guardians besides.
In many things the life of man then
did not differ from yours and mine.
Man and woman.
Mother and child.
The family. With their companion, the lama.
Between birth
and death:
mankind as it has always been.
Hard and patient
meditative
noble
or cunning
accepting fate
arrogant
melancholic and gay
sanguine or choleric
men like you and I, yet different!
Evil spirits possessed men:
and had to be exorcised.
Here they make magic with beans,
or merely play
Beans and maize, these were their food
and the potato, then still unknown in Europe.
And then: The numerous creatures of the sea.
A demon fishing. On rafts of balsa the
fishers moved over the water,
demons go out hunting birds.
In the desert: a fox-hunt perhaps a pastime for the favored few.
Watch over men, that they may live,
shielded from dangers
The ancient Peruvians, creators of high cultures,
were yet constantly in primitive combat and strife
among themselves: people just like you
and I!
Captives robbed of their clothing
are led into the realm of their victors.
Most often they were then killed and
their blood offered as a sacrifice.
Thus the victors sought to appease the
gods and demons
Watch over men, that they may live
under the mantle of thy peace
Heads, the work of artists, which yet are
mere vessels.
But such were the features of men in
those days,
at least those of the rulers.
A celebration starts, perhaps in thanks for
a victory, music.
A man tugs at his beard, hurriedly.
Rewards, honor for the victors, are
brought on.
Newly brewed maize beer elates.
Two lovers have met.
And a dead man joins a living woman.
The spirits of the dead live on.
The celebration has come to an end.
All are drunk,
even the watchman at the gate.
A man, intoxicated, is being brought home.
And the dead continue their celebration!
Peru, ancient land of gold,
destroyed by unscrupulous adventurers
and yet surviving in the works of her artists.
O creator, thou who art at the end of the world -
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