{"id":5748,"date":"2026-05-13T20:19:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T20:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/supay-harmful-spirits-and-lord-of-the-underworld-of-the-andes\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T09:34:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T09:34:22","slug":"supay-harmful-spirits-and-lord-of-the-underworld-of-the-andes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/supay-harmful-spirits-and-lord-of-the-underworld-of-the-andes\/","title":{"rendered":"Supay, Harmful Spirits and Lord of the Underworld of the Andes"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"5748\" class=\"elementor elementor-5748 elementor-2580 elementor-bc-flex-widget\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-hero e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-hero\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-hl e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-hl\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-htxt e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-htxt\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-h1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-h1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Supay, harmful spirits, lord of the underworld and mine demon of the Andean highlands<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-lead elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-lead\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Supay (Quechua <em>supay<\/em>, Aymara <em>supaya<\/em>) refers in Andean <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The passing on of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span> both to a class of harmful <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being to which agency in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirits<\/span> and to a specific underworld figure. In the mining region of Bolivia he was transformed into the <em>Tio<\/em>, the tunnel <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being to which harmful or ambivalent effects are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">demon<\/span> of the silver mines of Potosi and Oruro.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-pillc e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-pillc\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-pills elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-pills\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"iwg-pill-row\"><span class=\"iwg-klasse-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Harmful spirit of the Andes \/ Inca tradition.\">Harmful Spirit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/andean-cultures-and-the-inca-inti-pachamama-and-viracocha\/\" class=\"iwg-kultur-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Mythology of the Andes \/ Inca tradition.\">Andes \/ Inca<\/a><span class=\"iwg-tradition-badge\" tabindex=\"0\" data-tooltip=\"Underworld demon.\">Underworld Demon<\/span><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-tocc e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-tocc\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-toc elementor-toc--minimized-on-tablet elementor-widget elementor-widget-table-of-contents\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-toc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;headings_by_tags&quot;:[&quot;h2&quot;,&quot;h3&quot;],&quot;minimize_box&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;marker_view&quot;:&quot;bullets&quot;,&quot;no_headings_message&quot;:&quot;Es wurden keine \\u00dcberschriften auf dieser Seite gefunden.&quot;,&quot;exclude_headings_by_selector&quot;:[],&quot;icon&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;fas fa-circle&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;,&quot;rendered_tag&quot;:&quot;&lt;svg class=\\&quot;e-font-icon-svg e-fas-circle\\&quot; viewBox=\\&quot;0 0 512 512\\&quot; xmlns=\\&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.w3.org\\\/2000\\\/svg\\&quot;&gt;&lt;path d=\\&quot;M256 8C119 8 8 119 8 256s111 248 248 248 248-111 248-248S393 8 256 8z\\&quot;&gt;&lt;\\\/path&gt;&lt;\\\/svg&gt;&quot;},&quot;minimized_on&quot;:&quot;tablet&quot;,&quot;hierarchical_view&quot;:&quot;yes&quot;,&quot;min_height&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_tablet&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;min_height_mobile&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\" data-widget_type=\"table-of-contents.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-toc__header-title\">\n\t\t\t\tTable of Contents\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__toggle-button elementor-toc__toggle-button--expand\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"elementor-toc__iwgw-supay-toc\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Open table of contents\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-down\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M207.029 381.476L12.686 187.132c-9.373-9.373-9.373-24.569 0-33.941l22.667-22.667c9.357-9.357 24.522-9.375 33.901-.04L224 284.505l154.745-154.021c9.379-9.335 24.544-9.317 33.901.04l22.667 22.667c9.373 9.373 9.373 24.569 0 33.941L240.971 381.476c-9.373 9.372-24.569 9.372-33.942 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__toggle-button elementor-toc__toggle-button--collapse\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-controls=\"elementor-toc__iwgw-supay-toc\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Close table of contents\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"e-font-icon-svg e-fas-chevron-up\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M240.971 130.524l194.343 194.343c9.373 9.373 9.373 24.569 0 33.941l-22.667 22.667c-9.357 9.357-24.522 9.375-33.901.04L224 227.495 69.255 381.516c-9.379 9.335-24.544 9.317-33.901-.04l-22.667-22.667c-9.373-9.373-9.373-24.569 0-33.941L207.03 130.525c9.372-9.373 24.568-9.373 33.941-.001z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"elementor-toc__iwgw-supay-toc\" class=\"elementor-toc__body\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-toc__spinner-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"elementor-toc__spinner eicon-animation-spin e-font-icon-svg e-eicon-loading\" aria-hidden=\"true\" viewBox=\"0 0 1000 1000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M500 975V858C696 858 858 696 858 500S696 142 500 142 142 304 142 500H25C25 237 238 25 500 25S975 237 975 500 763 975 500 975Z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-hr e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-hr\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-heroimg iwg-hero-image elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-heroimg\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/geister_anden-inka_supay-683x1024.webp\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-5749\" alt=\"Supay - spirits from the Andes-Inca tradition, historically illustrative\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/geister_anden-inka_supay-683x1024.webp 683w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/geister_anden-inka_supay-200x300.webp 200w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/geister_anden-inka_supay-768x1152.webp 768w, https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/geister_anden-inka_supay.webp 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s0h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s0h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Classification in the Andean Pantheon<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s0c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s0c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s0t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s0t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Supay is a figure in Andean <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic discipline that studies religions comparatively and without confessional commitment.\" tabindex=\"0\">religion<\/span> that is difficult to categorize. Unlike the state-imperial high deities <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/inti-sun-god-of-the-inca\/\">Inti<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/viracocha-creator-god-of-the-andes\/\">Viracocha<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/mama-killa-moon-goddess-of-the-inca\/\">Mama Killa<\/a>, Supay is neither a personified creator nor a clearly defined individual god.<\/p><p>In the earliest Quechua sources he designates a class of harmful, bodiless beings, spirits of the dead, disease <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being to which harmful or ambivalent effect is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">demons<\/span>, nocturnal disturbers, and in parallel a personified ruling figure of the underworld.<\/p><p>The Spanish missionaries used <em>supay<\/em> from the sixteenth century onwards as the Quechua equivalent for the Christian devil (<em>diablo<\/em>).<\/p><p>This identification has substantially distorted the original meaning: whereas the Christian devil is conceived as a purely evil power, supay in pre-Hispanic Andean <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the beliefs of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span> was a morally ambivalent figure, dangerous but under certain circumstances also helpful, certainly not pure evil.<\/p><p>The Peruvian anthropologist Manuel Marzal systematically described the supay\/diablo distortion in <em>El mundo religioso de Urcos<\/em> (1971).<\/p><p>In the classification of <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The discipline that studies religions comparatively and without confessional commitment.\" tabindex=\"0\">religious studies<\/span>, Supay belongs to the broad category of <em><span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Belonging to the earth or the underworld; in ancient religion the gods and spirits of the depths (Hades, the Erinyes, Demeter chthonia).\" tabindex=\"0\">chthonic<\/span> numinosities<\/em>, beings of the depths, of the interior of the earth, of caves and shafts.<\/p><p>Structurally comparable figures are the Greek Hades, the Germanic Hel, the Mesoamerican Mictlantecuhtli, and to some extent also the Vodou Baron Samedi. In all these cases we are dealing with beings connected to the world of the dead and to the subterranean realm.<\/p><p>Notable is the early Spanish observation that the Quechua-speaking Inca had no unified concept of an absolutely evil being. Polo de Ondegardo noted in 1559 that the Inca knew many harmful beings but no unified embodiment of evil comparable to the Christian Satan.<\/p><p>This observation was initially interpreted by the missionaries as a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the beliefs of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span> deficit and rectified through the supay\/diablo identification, a process that continues to engage historians of religion to this day.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s1 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s1\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s1h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s1h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Name and Etymology<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s1c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s1c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s1t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s1t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The Quechua term <em>supay<\/em> is attested from the earliest colonial dictionaries. Diego Gonzalez Holguin gives its meaning in 1608 as <em>demonio o sombra<\/em>, <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being attributed with harmful or ambivalent effects.\" tabindex=\"0\">demon<\/span> or shadow.<\/p><p>This dual meaning is revealing: <em>sombra<\/em> refers not only to the optical shadow but to a kind of insubstantial being that can attach itself to the living. The plural <em>supaykuna<\/em> denotes the multitude of such shadowy beings.<\/p><p>In the Aymara language area the equivalent is <em>supaya<\/em> or <em>saxra<\/em>. The latter is today the more common term in the Bolivian Aymara villages and denotes harmful spirits that dwell in certain natural phenomena (whirlpools, rock fissures, caves).<\/p><p>In the modern Quechua-speaking villages, <em>supay<\/em> has undergone a differentiated conceptual history.<\/p><p>Catherine Allen distinguishes in <em>The Hold Life Has<\/em> (2002) three semantic fields: first, <em>supay<\/em> as a pejorative designation for Christian demons (in the sense of the missionary identification), second, <em>supay<\/em> as a generic designation for a shadowy harmful spirit, and third, <em>supay<\/em> as an honorific <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A fixed epithet that characterizes a deity or figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">epithet<\/span> for certain mountain lords (Apu) or <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An ancestor venerated in many cultures as a protective power.\" tabindex=\"0\">ancestral<\/span> mummies (mallqui) that call for reverential caution.<\/p><p>The etymological proximity of <em>supay<\/em> to the Quechua verb <em>supay-<\/em> (to be blown away by the wind, to be carried off) has led some linguists to the conjecture that the basic meaning is a <em>wind-blown <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being attributed with agency in the world.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span><\/em>, a being carried back into the world of the living by the wind after death.<\/p><p>This linguistic-historical hypothesis is not definitively established but fits well with the ethnographically observed conception of supay as a <em>wind <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A bodiless being attributed with agency in the world.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s2 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s2\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s2h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s2h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Description and Iconography<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s2c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s2c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s2t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s2t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In the early chronicles Supay is described as formless, an invisible, fleeting being that afflicts the living in sleep, in illness, or at night. This iconographic absence is characteristic of the old Andean conception of harmful spirits; they were not depicted in fixed form but feared as an invisible presence.<\/p><p>With the Spanish mission and the identification with the Christian devil, the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The study of pictorial content and its meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">iconography<\/span> changed radically. In colonial Cuzco and Potosi painting Supay appears increasingly in a European-diabolical form: horned, with a long tail, goat-legged, sometimes surrounded by sulphurous vapour.<\/p><p>The famous <em>Triumph of Saint Michael<\/em> painting (Cuzco school, 17th century) shows several such Supays under the feet of the archangel.<\/p><p>In the Bolivian mining region a distinct Tio iconography has developed since the seventeenth century: male figures modelled from clay with golden eyes, a horned head, a tobacco cigarette in the mouth, and a prominent erect phallus, an expression of the fertility of the earth that gives birth to silver.<\/p><p>These Tio figures stand to this day in almost every mine tunnel of the Potosi-Oruro region. June Nash documented them extensively in <em>We Eat the Mines and the Mines Eat Us<\/em> (1979).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s3 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s3\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s3h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s3h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Mythological Narratives<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s3c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s3c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s3t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s3t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The mythological <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The transmission of knowledge and narratives across generations.\" tabindex=\"0\">tradition<\/span> surrounding Supay is fragmentary. In the Huarochiri manuscript (c. 1608) several supay beings appear as antagonists of heroic figures; they are usually defeated by cunning or repelled by <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An ordered sequence of symbolic actions with religious or cultural meaning.\" tabindex=\"0\">ritual<\/span> measures.<\/p><p>Cristobal de Albornoz describes in his <em>Instruccion para descubrir todas las guacas<\/em> (c. 1581) various supay classes, including the <em>aya supay<\/em> (spirits of the dead), the <em>chuqui supay<\/em> (spear spirits, i.e. warrior demons), and the <em>llocsi supay<\/em> (those who emerge, i.e. wandering haunting spirits).<\/p><p>A widespread <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A recurring thematic element in art or narrative.\" tabindex=\"0\">motif<\/span> in the narratives of Quechua-speaking villages concerns the <em>condenado<\/em> (the condemned): a dead soul that, because of incest, murder, or other grave crimes, finds no entry into the afterlife and wanders as a roaming Supay.<\/p><p>These condenados roam mainly in the highlands at night, appear to travellers as a sorrowful but uncanny companion, and attempt to drag the living into death. Catherine Allen recorded several such condenado narratives for the village of Sonqo.<\/p><p>In the mining <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of the transmitted deity narratives of a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">mythology<\/span> of the Bolivian Andes, Supay\/Tio appears as the lord of silver deposits. A central narrative describes how the first miner encountered a Tio statue and questioned it: the Tio promised abundant silver but demanded coca, spirits, and occasionally a human life in return.<\/p><p>Though legendary, this story reflects very precisely the actually observed accident risk in the tunnels, which is <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Belonging to a fixed religious sequence of actions.\" tabindex=\"0\">ritually<\/span> processed through the Tio <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of the religious acts of veneration for a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span>.<\/p><p>Another important narrative class concerns the <em>pishtaco<\/em> beings, a specific form of Supay kinship that has received particular attention in more recent Andean village studies. Pishtacos are pale-skinned, fat-sucking beings that are said to extract the fat of their <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Gift to a deity to express gratitude, petition, or veneration.\" tabindex=\"0\">victims<\/span> for use in industrial machinery.<\/p><p>This narrative is attested since the late sixteenth century and is reactivated in every phase of economic upheaval. Mary Weismantel showed in <em>Cholas and Pishtacos<\/em> (2001) how this narrative processes the structural tensions between the indigenous population and non-indigenous powers in religious terms.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s4 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s4\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s4h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s4h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Cult and Mining Ritual<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s4c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s4c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s4t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s4t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The Inca-period Supay <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of the religious acts of veneration for a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span> existed only in negative form: Supays were not recipient deities but spirits whose harm had to be warded off by ritual measures.<\/p><p>The most important example is the annual <em>Citua<\/em> purification festival in Cusco (September), in which warriors marched through the city with torches, drove out all illnesses, all known supay beings, and all disturbances, symbolically washing them away in the four cardinal directions.<\/p><p>Since the seventeenth century an independent Tio <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of the religious acts of veneration for a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span> has developed in the Bolivian mining regions, going far beyond mere warding off and passing into an active cultivation of the relationship with the tunnel demon.<\/p><p>The miners make <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An offering to a deity to express gratitude, petition, or veneration.\" tabindex=\"0\">offerings<\/span> to the Tio every Tuesday and Friday by placing coca leaves on his lap, pouring spirits into his mouth, inserting burning cigarettes into his mouth, and asking him to release the silver and keep the tunnels safe.<\/p><p>The annual highlight is the <em>Carnaval Minero<\/em> (Miners&#8217; Carnival) in Oruro, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage event since 2001. At its centre stands the <em>Diablada<\/em> dance, which depicts the defeat of the Tio by the Archangel Michael, a choreographic fusion of pre-Hispanic Supay <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the beliefs of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span> with Catholic demon doctrine.<\/p><p>The famous silver Diablo masks of the Oruro Carnival are at once an art-historical and a religious-historical phenomenon.<\/p><p>The mining region of Potosi was the economic centre of Spanish colonial economy since the discovery of its silver deposits in 1545. The city of Potosi had over 160,000 inhabitants in the seventeenth century and was one of the largest cities in the world.<\/p><p>The enormous death tolls among the indigenous Mita workers, with thousands of miners dying annually from mercury poisoning, accidents, and exhaustion, shaped the Tio <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the beliefs of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span> and gave it a bloody backdrop that remains present to this day in the Oruro-Bolivian carnival narratives.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s5 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s5\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s5h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s5h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Protective Practices and Apotropaic Measures<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s5c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s5c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s5t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s5t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The protective practices against Supays constitute one of the richest chapters of Andean folk religion. Catherine Allen, Joseph Bastien, and Olivia Harris have systematically described these practices in the villages in their ethnographic works.<\/p><p>Central means of protection include: wearing a red woollen thread at the wrist (especially for young children), placing a small cross combination above the house entrance door, fumigating the house with eucalyptus and muna leaves (a wild mint of the highlands), and wearing pieces of garlic or rue herb at the neck.<\/p><p>These practices have been syncretically co-influenced in detail by European folk-medicinal traditions.<\/p><p>A specific protective practice concerns the <em>almas-en-pena<\/em> (souls in torment) and the <em>condenados<\/em>: whoever does not prepare the ritually correct meal for the dead on All Souls&#8217; Day (1st\/2nd November) risks the deceased ancestors returning as Supays.<\/p><p>The elaborate practice of the <em>Todos Santos<\/em> meal, with specially baked bread figurines (<em>t&#8217;antawawas<\/em>), choclo, maize sweets, and coca leaves, is at once a veneration of the dead and a protective practice against the retribution of poorly treated spirits.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s6 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s6\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s6h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s6h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Parallels in Other Cultures<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s6c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s6c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s6t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s6t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The supay\/Tio constellation has received much attention in the religious studies literature because it constitutes a paradigmatic example of the phenomenon of <em>religious inversion<\/em>: a fundamentally terrifying figure becomes in mining practice a relationship that is actively cultivated, because the economic situation of survival forces an instrumental approach to what is perceived as evil.<\/p><p>Structurally parallel phenomena are found in the Mesoamerican Tlazolteotl and Mictlantecuhtli <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the beliefs of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span>, in the West Asian Lilith tradition (which can be both a harmful spirit and a protective spirit), and in African Eshu <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the beliefs of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span>.<\/p><p>June Nash explicitly described the Bolivian Tio in <em>We Eat the Mines<\/em> (1979) as an example of a <em>working-class theology<\/em> that can be read in both Marxist and religious-ethnological terms.<\/p><p>Specific to the Andean sphere is the entanglement of the Supay\/Tio complex with the <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/pachamama-earth-mother-of-the-andes\/\">Pachamama<\/a> complex. In the Bolivian mines Tio and Pachamama are understood as a complementary pair: Tio inside the tunnel, Pachamama outside at the tunnel entrance. This complementarity corresponds to the general Andean <em>yanantin<\/em> principle of dual pairs.<\/p><p>An important parallel is provided by the Jewish <em>Lilith<\/em> tradition, which likewise represents a double-faced figure between harmful spirit and, under certain circumstances, an accessible mediator.<\/p><p>The Japanese <em>oni<\/em> concept is also related, since oni beings too are depicted not as unambiguously evil but as morally ambivalent. These structural parallels should not, however, lead to a typological equation: the historically and culturally specific nature of each tradition remains central.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s7 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s7\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s7h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s7h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Current Reception and Research<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s7c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s7c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s7t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s7t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The Tio <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The totality of the religious acts of veneration for a deity or sacred figure.\" tabindex=\"0\">cult<\/span> of the Bolivian mines is today one of the most closely observed religious practice complexes in the world.<\/p><p>The works of June Nash (1979), Tristan Platt (1983), Pascale Absi (2005), and the French mining ethnologist Tristan Platt have described in detail the continuities and changes in the cult since the Spanish colonial period.<\/p><p>Remarkable is the history of the identification of Supay with the Christian devil: a spirit complex that was initially rather shadowy and morally ambivalent was transformed by the Spanish missionary strategy into a prominent anti-god, who in mining practice paradoxically became again a recipient figure in a reciprocal <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Gift to a deity to express gratitude, petition, or veneration.\" tabindex=\"0\">offering<\/span> relationship.<\/p><p>This ironic turn is a classic example of the <em>religious creativity<\/em> of indigenous cultures under colonial conditions.<\/p><p>From a religious studies perspective Supay\/Tio remains an important reminder against the simple identification of indigenous harmful spirits with the Christian devil.<\/p><p>The category <em>diablo<\/em>, which is of colonial provenance, obscures the genuinely Andean moral ambivalence of the supay complex and renders it unusable for religious studies analysis. The iWell Guard context describes this finding in terms of the history of religion, not with promises of efficacy.<\/p><p>Current research additionally links the Supay complex to the question of indigenous conceptions of justice. Where the traditional state justice apparatus fails, the supay-condenado conception serves in the villages as a moral compensatory mechanism: whoever has incurred guilt will return in death as a wandering Supay and enact their own punishment.<\/p><p>This ethical dimension of Supay <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The academic study of God and the beliefs of a religion.\" tabindex=\"0\">theology<\/span> has been described by Allen, Bastien, and Salomon in their works as the <em>moral ecology<\/em> of Quechua-Aymara religiosity.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s8 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s8\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s8h elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s8h\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Literature and Sources<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s8c e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s8c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-s8t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-s8t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The following selection lists central works on the supay\/Tio tradition of the central Andes, with particular focus on Bolivian mining ethnography.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp290cce30 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp290cce30\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp268756bf elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp268756bf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Supay between Pre-Colonial Conception and Christian Reinterpretation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp2e5496e8 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp2e5496e8\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp2761718f elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp2761718f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>The term <em>supay<\/em> belongs to the words whose meaning shifted fundamentally through Spanish colonisation.<\/p><p>In the early Quechua dictionaries, such as the <em>Lexicon<\/em> of Domingo de Santo Tom\u00e1s (1560) and the vocabulary of Diego Gonz\u00e1lez Holgu\u00edn (1608), <em>supay<\/em> appears as a designation for a <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"An incorporeal being to which agency in the world is attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">spirit<\/span> or shadow being connected to the realm of the dead and the underworld.<\/p><p>A clearly negative moral evaluation cannot be securely reconstructed for the pre-colonial period.<\/p><p>The Christian missionaries, however, consistently translated <em>supay<\/em> as devil and <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A spiritual being to which harmful or ambivalent effects are attributed.\" tabindex=\"0\">demon<\/span>. As a result, an ambiguous being of the Andean world became a figure of Christian evil.<\/p><p>This equation is already found in the catechisms that the Third Council of Lima published in Quechua and Aymara from 1583 onwards. Research, including works by Sabine MacCormack and Gerald Taylor, has shown that the colonial texts thereby created a category that had not previously existed in this form.<\/p><p>The picture becomes complex because the Andean population partly accepted and partly subverted this reinterpretation. The underground realm remained in the collective imagination connected with wealth and the mines, and so <em>supay<\/em> simultaneously became the lord of the mines.<\/p><p>The figure of the <em>tio<\/em>, the lord underground, to whom miners in Potosi and other mining centres continue to offer gifts to this day, stands in this lineage.<\/p><p>He is not a simple Christian devil but a being one must engage with because he controls the treasures of the mountain. Related ambivalence characterises the treatment of <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/pachamama-earth-mother-of-the-andes\/\">Pachamama<\/a>, who likewise receives offerings.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp2745eaad e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp2745eaad\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp2c1826c6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp2c1826c6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Diablada and the Dance of the Devils<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp2d0b1363 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp2d0b1363\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp2f6bbec7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp2f6bbec7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>A context in which the Supay conception remains visibly alive to this day is the <em>Diablada<\/em>, the devil dance associated above all with the Carnival of Oruro in Bolivia.<\/p><p>At this festival, whose present basic form is attested in the eighteenth century, groups of dancers in elaborate devil masks parade through the city. The mask-wearers represent an army of <em>supay<\/em> figures that is symbolically defeated at the end by the figure of the Archangel Michael.<\/p><p>The religious studies interpretation sees in the <em>Diablada<\/em> a combination of two layers. The outer form follows the Christian scheme of the victory of good over evil, as conveyed by Spanish missionary plays.<\/p><p>At the same time the subterranean reference is retained: Oruro was a mining city, and the central <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A religiously motivated journey to a sacred site.\" tabindex=\"0\">pilgrimage<\/span> site, the <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"A small sacred storage place or place of devotion.\" tabindex=\"0\">shrine<\/span> of the Virgen del Socavon, the Virgin of the Mine Shaft, is located at the entrance to a mine tunnel.<\/p><p>The dance is offered to the Virgin but takes place at a site belonging to the lord of the mines.<\/p><p>Researchers such as Thomas Abercrombie have pointed out that the participants themselves interpret this ambiguity differently. For some the dance is an act of penance, for others an obligation towards the mountain. UNESCO included the Carnaval de Oruro on the list of intangible cultural heritage in 2001, which led to greater standardisation and commercialisation.<\/p><p>Research records that the touristic upgrading has partly overlaid the ritual significance without entirely displacing it. The <em>Diablada<\/em> is thus a well-documented example of how a colonially reinterpreted figure lives on in a public festival and in doing so takes on new meanings.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp24212341 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"cp24212341\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp2406cb69 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"cp2406cb69\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Research Debate on the Duality of Upper and Lower Worlds<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp20d2c88b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-child\" data-id=\"cp20d2c88b\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cp20a30241 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cp20a30241\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>A contested question in Andean research concerns the relationship of <em>supay<\/em> to an assumed pre-colonial model of the world.<\/p><p>Some accounts organise Andean <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"The conception of the structure and order of the world within a culture.\" tabindex=\"0\">cosmology<\/span> into three realms: an upper world, the middle world of the living, and a lower world connected with the interior of the earth and the dead. <em>Supay<\/em> is in this view understood as an inhabitant or lord of the lower world.<\/p><p>Research is divided on how old and how widespread this three-tier model actually was. Critics such as Bruce Mannheim have pointed out that the sources from which it is reconstructed are almost all of colonial origin and may already contain Christian concepts of heaven, earth, and hell.<\/p><p>There is a risk of back-projecting a Christian scheme onto the pre-colonial period and then presenting it as indigenous heritage.<\/p><p>Other researchers, for instance in the context of work on the Huarochiri manuscripts, a collection of local traditions recorded in Quechua around 1600, do see indications of a pre-colonial significance of the subterranean realm, without this having corresponded to the Christian concept of hell.<\/p><p><em>Supay<\/em> would accordingly have originally been a neutral or ambiguous being of the realm of the dead.<\/p><p>The debate is not closed, because it depends on the fundamental difficulty of reconstructing pre-colonial Andean religion from predominantly colonial texts. For a rigorous account this calls for restraint: what can be considered established is the shift in meaning in the colonial period, not the precise pre-colonial finding.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-lit e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-lit\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-lith elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-lith\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Literature (Selection)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-litc e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-litc\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-litt elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-litt\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul><li>June Nash: <em>We Eat the Mines and the Mines Eat Us<\/em> (1979)<\/li><li>Tristan Platt: <em>Estado boliviano y ayllu andino<\/em> (1982)<\/li><li>Pascale Absi: <em>Les ministres du diable<\/em> (2005)<\/li><li>Catherine Allen: <em>The Hold Life Has<\/em> (2002)<\/li><li>Manuel Marzal: <em>El mundo religioso de Urcos<\/em> (1971)<\/li><li>Cristobal de Albornoz: <em>Instruccion para descubrir todas las guacas<\/em> (c. 1581)<\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgkw2-add-supay e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgkw2-add-supay\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgkw2-add-supay-t elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgkw2-add-supay-t\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Supay is regarded in <em>Andean<\/em> religious history as a <em>lord of the underworld<\/em> and simultaneously as a <em>mine demon<\/em>, to whom miners in the colonial silver mines of Potosi brought <span class=\"iwg-fachbegriff\" data-tooltip=\"Gift to a deity to express gratitude, petition, or veneration.\" tabindex=\"0\">offerings<\/span> to avert tunnel collapses and illness.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-kwd e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-kwd\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-kwdc e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-kwdc\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-kwdt elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-kwdt\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><em>Related key terms: Supay Saxra Tio Condenado Citua Diablada Oruro Potosi Aya Supay Tantawawa.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-cc e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-cc\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" id=\"iwg-cc-supay\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-ccinner e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-ccinner\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-cch elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-cch\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">iWell Guard and Protective Traditions<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-cct elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-cct\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div data-nosnippet=\"true\"><p>iWell Guard draws on the cultural-historical tradition of wearable protective objects, in the tradition of <a href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/andean-cultures-and-the-inca-inti-pachamama-and-viracocha\/\">Andes \/ Inca<\/a> and many other cultures worldwide. 41 layers, real gold, platinum, silver, made in Germany. 30-day return policy.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-ccb iwg-cc-button iwg-cc-cta-2026-05-13 elementor-widget elementor-widget-jet-button\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-ccb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"jet-button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-jet-button jet-elements\"><div class=\"jet-button__container\"><a class=\"jet-button__instance jet-button__instance--icon-left hover-effect-1\" href=\"https:\/\/iwell-guard.com\/en\/about-iwell-guard-the-protective-pendant-in-detail\/?utm_source=iwell-guard.com&amp;utm_medium=info-box&amp;utm_campaign=wesen-tradition\"><div class=\"jet-button__plane jet-button__plane-normal\"><\/div><div class=\"jet-button__plane jet-button__plane-hover\"><\/div><div class=\"jet-button__state jet-button__state-normal\"><span class=\"jet-button__label\">Learn more about iWell Guard<\/span><\/div><div class=\"jet-button__state jet-button__state-hover\"><span class=\"jet-button__label\">Learn more about iWell Guard<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div><style>.elementor-element.elementor-element-iwgw-supay-ccb .jet-button__instance{width:320px;height:56px;}.elementor-element.elementor-element-iwgw-supay-ccb .jet-button__state-normal .jet-button__label{text-align:center;margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;color:#1a1b20;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:4px;line-height:1.714em;text-transform:uppercase;}.elementor-element.elementor-element-iwgw-supay-ccb .jet-button__state-hover .jet-button__label{text-align:center;margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;color:#FECC76;font-family:Montserrat,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:4px;line-height:1.714em;text-transform:uppercase;}.elementor-element.elementor-element-iwgw-supay-ccb .jet-button__plane-normal{background-color:#FECC76;border-style:solid;border-color:#C99540;border-width:2px 2px 2px 2px;}.elementor-element.elementor-element-iwgw-supay-ccb .jet-button__plane-hover{background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.55);border-style:solid;border-color:#FECC76;border-width:2px 2px 2px 2px;}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-ccd elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-ccd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div data-nosnippet=\"true\"><p style=\"text-align:center;font-size:13px;opacity:0.7;margin-top:14px\" data-nosnippet=\"true\">Individual experiences may vary. Not a medical device. No promise of healing.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-disc e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-disc\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-iwgw-supay-discw elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"iwgw-supay-discw\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<footer data-nosnippet=\"true\" class=\"iwg-disclaimer-block\"><p data-nosnippet=\"true\">iWell Guard is <strong>not a medical device<\/strong> and does not replace medical or psychotherapeutic treatment. The religious studies content is cultural-historical classification, not a recommendation for spiritual practice.<\/p><\/footer>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supay, harmful spirits, lord of the underworld and mine demon of the Andean highlands Supay (Quechua supay, Aymara supaya) refers in Andean tradition both to a class of harmful spirits and to a specific underworld figure. In the mining region of Bolivia he was transformed into the Tio, the tunnel demon of the silver mines [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5749,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"Supay Andes harmful spirit","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Supay, Andean Lord of the Underworld and Harmful Spirit","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Supay refers in Andean tradition to harmful spirits and a lord of the underworld. In the mining region he was transformed into the Tio of Potosi.","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_angie_page":false,"gefaehrdungsstufe":"","wesen_kultur":"","wesen_klasse":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"class_list":["post-5748","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spirits"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Supay, Andean Lord of the Underworld and Harmful Spirit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Supay refers in Andean tradition to harmful spirits and a lord of the underworld. 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