noun. Originally the generic name for the spirits thought by the Peruvian Indians to be disseminated through the whole visible and perceptible world; also applied to every object, natural or artificial, supposed to be the abode of such a spirit.

noun. A fetish. The sun, moon, and stars, all meteorologic phenomena, the mountains, rivers, in short, everything striking in nature, and every idol, were huaca.

noun. An aboriginal ruin: now the common use of the word. Any ruin of ancient Indian architecture is a huaca. See huaco.

"In parts of highland Peru it is called huaca, the Quechua name for grave, because of the belief that those intoxicated with the plant are able to divine the location of the tombs of their ancestors."