Editing Supay

{{Short description|Andean ghost, devil, or death deity}}
{{For|Tío Supay|El Tío}}
[[Image:Diablo puneño.jpg|thumb|200px|Supay, as interpreted in a Peruvian festival]]
In the [[Quechua people|Quechua]], [[Aymara people|Aymara]], and [[Inca mythology|Inca]] mythologies, '''{{Transliteration|qu|Supay|italic=no}}''' (from {{langx|qu|supay}} "shadow"; {{langx|ay|'''Supaya'''|italic=no}}) was originally an ambivalent spirit, both benevolent and harmful, a denizen of the Incan netherworld ([[Pacha (Inca mythology)#Ukhu Pacha|Ukhu Pacha]]) who might enter the world of the living as "shadow", perhaps attempting to bring someone as companion into the world of the dead.

Some explain Supay as a single spirit or god of the subterranean realm. Either way, in the Spanish Christianized conception the Supay was turned  more or less into the Devil or demons living in Hell.

== Etymology ==
The anonymous dictionary of 1586 defines the term as  "shadow" ({{lang|es|{{linktext|sombra}}}}),{{sfnp|Taylor|2000|p=22}} as do Father [[Diego González Holguín]] (1608) under "{{lang|qu|çupan|italic=no}}"<ref name="diego_gonzaez1608">[[Diego González Holguín|Holguín]] (1608) ''Vocabulario'' apud {{harvp|Taylor|2000|p=22}}</ref> and under "{{Transliteration|qu|supa|italic=no}}" Jorge A. Lira (1945) and [[Jesús Lara (writer)|Jesús Lara]] (1971).<ref name="lira1945">Lira, Jorge A. (1945) ''Diccionario kkechuwa-español'' apud {{harvp|Taylor|2000|p=22}}</ref><ref name="lara1971">Lira, Jorge A. (1978) [1971] ''Diccionario Qheshwa-Castellano'' apud {{harvp|Taylor|2000|p=22}}</ref> In early Quechua-Spanish usage, the sense of "shadow" or "soul" or "[[Anima and animus|anima]]" is followed.{{sfnp|Taylor|2000|p=26}}<ref name="quispe-agnoli2017"/>

Other forms include: {{Transliteration|qu|zupay|italic=no}},<ref name="quispe-agnoli2017"/> {{Transliteration|qu|çupay|italic=no}},<ref name="diaz2017">{{cite book|last=Díaz |first=Mónica |author-link=<!--Mónica Díaz--> |title=To Be Indio in Colonial Spanish America |location= |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TlXSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA197| pages=196–198, notes on p. 213 |isbn=<!--0826357733, -->9780826357731}}</ref> {{Transliteration|qu|hupai|italic=no}},<ref name="diaz2017"/> {{Transliteration|qu|hupee|italic=no}}.<ref name="diaz2017"/>

== Origins ==
Among the indigenous Quechua people, "Supay" originally denoted a spirit that could both do good and do harm (they would try to appease the spirit they feared and worshiped<ref name="quentas_ormachea1986"/>). This sense had not been lost to Friar [[Domingo de Santo Tomás]] whose dictionary glossed the term as both "good angel" {{lang|qu|alliçupa}} and "bad angel" {{lang|qu|manaalliçupa}}<ref name="ramirez2018"/> in his ''Lexicón'' (1560), and only the spirit he qualified as bad, i.e., {{lang|qu|mana alii çupa}} "evil supay" corresponded to devils, as according to the quoted sermon about [[fallen angel]]s inserted in the dictionary.<ref name="silverblatt1987"/><ref name="diaz2017"/> However, the Christianized Spaniards went on to apply the term "supay" conveniently to mean strictly "devil".<ref name="silverblatt1987"/><ref name="diaz2017"/>

The original Supay could be benevolent towards the living whom he liked, or those who suffered a dignified death. But he could be a terrible and evil being for any of the rest, both in the underworld and in the earthly world, and he could tip the scales of bad luck by whim alone.<ref name="dup-0-16">{{cite book|last=Tapia |first=Javier |author-link=Javier Tapia |title=Mitología Inca: El pilar del mundo |publisher=Plutón Ediciones X Sl |year=2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nLHcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT44 |isbn=978-84-18211-10-2 |access-date=2024-08-29 |language=es}}</ref>

In the more original conception, the ''supay'' dwelled in the netherworld called "Ura Pacha" (or [[Pacha (Inca mythology)#Ukhu Pacha|Uku Pacha]], in the Incan three-world view{{sfnp|Bastien|1987|p=139}}) but the ''supaya'' as living "shadows" (as per the meaning of the word) may wander into the world of the living ("[[Pacha (Inca mythology)#Kay Pacha|Kay Pacha]]", 'Hereworld') to "gather companions" into the world of the dead.<ref name="bastien-EncyRel1987"/> The ''supaya'' is (typically) the soul of an ancestor,<ref name="bouysse-cassagne2023"/> and may assist the living by providing counsel for proper conduct in order to achieve peace (in death).<ref name="bonilla2006"/> The supaya represents a necessary force of nature that wither things in order to bring about new life.<ref name="bastien-EncyRel1987"/>

Just as the Supay became the Devil through the prism of Christianity, the [[Viracocha]], which originally designated a whole legion of primordial ancestors who came out of [[Lake Titicaca]], was turned into the equivalent of the one [[monotheistic]] [[Creator deity|Creator God]],<!--hence the claim (in es.wiki) that Viracocha created the Supay god, just as God must have created Lucifer--><ref name="gose2003"/>

==Modern Andean-Christian belief==
The name Supay is now roughly translated into ''diablo'' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]] for devil) in most Southern American countries.

Some commentary regards the Supay as a single God of Death of the Uku Pacha (inner world),<ref name="adames&chavez-dueñas2016"/><!-- Adame's "God of Death" or material on Supay could not be verified in the non-previewable Jones, David M. (2912) ''The Complete Illustrated History of the Inca Empire"; Davies, Nigel (1995) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=OnYaAAAAYAAJ&q=dead The Incas]'' or Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, María (1999) [https://books.google.com/books?id=PfO9_ohMYQQC History of the Inca Realm] which are cited by Adames--> the "god of the mountains",<ref name="crump2021"/> or "the spirit or god who lived in the earth".{{sfnp|LeCount|1995|p=50}}

What appears to be the case is there is conflation between the Supay, regarded as a [[trickster]] deity, and  [[El Tío]] (q.v.), the Bolivian god of the underworld and the mines.<ref name="lane2021"/> While scholarly argument postulates Tío to have been a sort of Spanish invented frightening god/boogeyman and thus a corruption of {{lang|es|Dios}},<ref name="estermann2014"/> the popular notion is that the miners avoid the derogatory ''supay'' and call him Tío, or "uncle".{{Refn|Urban and Sherzer 1991 ''apud'' Bonilla<ref name="bonilla2006"/>}} The name is sometimes concatenated as "Tío Supay" or "Uncle Supay".{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Some miners who claimed to have seen him said he was a small man who smelled of sulfur, and accused him of pranks like hiding the miner's coca or his essentially tools.{{sfnp|Claure Covarrubias|Monotoya|2005|p=73}}}}{{sfnp|Claure Covarrubias|Monotoya|2005|p=73}}

It has been commented that in the early 20th century, the Aymara were more prone to worship the Supay akin to old tradition, and the Quechua more likely to regard it as a disgusting creature.<ref name="urteaga1911"/>

In some areas of Peru, where the cult of the [[Virgin of Candelaria]] is celebrated, she became controller of lightning who frightens away the devilish Supay (early 20th century).<ref name="urteaga1911"/> This Catholic Virgin Mother is the [[Pachamama]]'s counterpart, just as the Devil is the replacement for Supay.<ref name="crump2021"/>

== Mining communities ==
{{main|Tío Supay}}
Supay is given original meaning in the [[miner]]'s communities, with [[El Tío|Tío]] or Supay recognized as the lord of the mines,<ref name="sallnow1989"/> sometimes conflated together into figure of Tío Supay, as already discussed.{{sfnp|Claure Covarrubias|Monotoya|2005|p=73}} And the Virgin of the Mineshaft ([[:es:Virgen del Socavón|Virgen del Socavón]]) is the mining communities' alias of the Virgin of Candelaria previously discussed.<ref name="perrin2009"/>

In [[Oruro]], Bolivia, the [[Carnaval de Oruro]] features the ''[[diablada]]'' dance with the Supay cast in the role of its most important devil<ref name="perrin2009"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|It is not clear if the star of the dance really names himself the Supay as Perrin seems to suggest. Otherliterature refer to Lucifer and Satan appearing, both symbolizing El Tío.<ref>{{harvp|Claure Covarrubias|Monotoya|2005|p=53}}:"Los diablos y luciferes representan simbolicamente al Tío en el Carnaval . Lo interesante es cómo este ser demoníaco.. es capaz de bailar a su vez en honor a la Virgen del Socavón"</ref>}} The carnival dance may also feature the ''china supay'' or "she-devils" of overtly sexual nature that used to be performed by men.<ref>{{harvp|Sallnow|1989|pp=249–250}} based on the ethnography of [[June Nash]] (1979)</ref>

In the miners' lore, Tío was the king of the underground ({{lang|es|rey de lo subterráneo}}), and Chinasupay the she-devil his wife, according to [[Victor Montoya]], and he sees some parallels with the [[Hades]]-[[Persephone]] myth here.{{sfnp|Claure Covarrubias|Monotoya|2005|p=54}}

==Retablos==
Vintage Andean household altars or ''[[Peruvian retablo|retablo]]s'' typically depicted two of the aforementioned three worlds, but more recent altars depict all three, with the lowest floor, Uku Pacha, of the lost souls of the deceased and demonical beings. The supay-devils are portrayed as goat-men with wings and long claws on hands and hind feet. There are also winged angels depicted, but the indigenous faith regards this not so much as the battle between good and evil but as striking balance between natural forces.{{Refn|Strong,<ref name="strong2012"/> citing [[:es:Luis Millones Santagadea|Millones, Luis]] (2004), ''Dioses familiares'' p. 194.}}

== See also ==
* {{interlanguage link|Huari (deity)|es|Huari (dios de los huaris)}} - deity of the [[Huari (archaeological site)|Huari]]s
* [[psychopomp]]
* [[Saqra]]

==Explanatory notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|refs=
<ref name="adames&chavez-dueñas2016">{{cite book |last1=Adames |first1=Hector Y. |author1-link=<!--Hector Y. Adames--> |last2=Chavez-Dueñas|first2=Nayeli Y. |author2-link=<!--Nayeli Y. Chavez-Dueñas--> |title=Cultural Foundations and Interventions in Latino/a Mental Health: History, Theory and within Group Differences |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VZmkDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |pages=20–21 |isbn=<!--1317529804, -->9781317529804}}</ref>
	
<ref name="bastien-EncyRel1987">{{cite book|last=Bastien |first=Joseph W. |author-link=<!--Joseph W. Bastien --> |entry=Quechua Religions: Andean Cultures |editor1-last=Eliade |editor1-first=Mircea |editor1-link=Mircea Eliade |editor2-last=Adams |editor2-first=Charles J. |editor2-link=Charles Joseph Adams|title=The Encyclopedia of Religion 12 |location= |publisher=Macmillan |year=1987 |entry-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-MkAAAAYAAJ&q=supaya |pages=137 |isbn=<!--0029094801, -->9780029094808}}</ref>

<ref name="bonilla2006">{{cite journal|last=Bonilla |first=Heraclio |author-link=<!--Heraclio Bonilla--> |title=Religious Practices in the Andes and their Relevance to Political Struggle and Development: The Case of El Tío and Miners in Bolivia |journal=Mountain Research and Development |volume=26 |number=4 |date=November 2006 |url=https://bioone.org/journals/mountain-research-and-development/volume-26/issue-4/0276-4741_2006_26_336_RPITAA_2.0.CO_2/Religious-Practices-in-the-Andes-and-their-Relevance-to-Political/10.1659/0276-4741(2006)26[336:RPITAA]2.0.CO;2.pdf |page=336 and Fig. 1<!--336–342-->}}</ref>

<ref name="bouysse-cassagne2023">{{cite book|last=Bouysse-Cassagne |first=Thérèse |author-link=<!--Thérèse Bouysse-Cassagne  --> |chapter=1. Potosí Revisited: Toward a Pre-Hispanic Potosí  |editor1-last=Barragán |editor1-first=Rossana |editor1-link=<!--Rossana Barragán--> |editor2-last=Zagalsky |editor2-first=Paula C. |editor2-link=<!--Paula C. Zagalsky--> |title=Potosí in the Global Silver Age (16th—19th Centuries)|location= |publisher=BRILL |year=2023 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=weyyEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 |pages=137 <!--51–105-->|isbn=<!--9004528687, -->9789004528680}}</ref>

<ref name="crump2021">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Crump |first=William D. |author-link=<!--William D. Crump --> |entry=Bolivia and its folklore |title=Encyclopedia of Easter Celebrations Worldwide |location= |publisher=McFarland
|year=2021 |entry-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nksgEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA25  |page=25 |isbn=<!--147668054X, -->9781476680545}}</ref>

<ref name="estermann2014">{{cite book|last=Estermann |first=Josef |author-link=Josef Estermann |chapter=7. La imagen de Dios en perspectiva indígena andina|title=Cruz & Coca: Hacia la descolonización de religión y teología |location=Quito |publisher=Editorial Abya-Yala |year=2014 |url=https://www.bibliotecanacionaldigital.gob.cl/visor/BND:8198 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=luNZEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 |page=155 and n158 |isbn=<!--9942093753, -->9789942093752}}</ref>

<ref name="gose2003">{{cite book|last=Gose |first=Peter |author-link=<!--Peter Gose--> |chapter=6. Converting the Ancestors: Indirect Rule, Settlement Consolidation, and the Struggle over Burial in Colonial Peru, 1532–1614 |editor1-last=Mills |editor1-first=Kenneth |editor1-link=<!--Kenneth Mills--> |editor2-last=Grafton |editor2-first=Anthony |editor2-link=Anthony Grafton |title=Conversion: Old Worlds and New |location= |publisher=University Rochester Press |year=2003|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RcEgyRj8NoC&pg=PA142 |pages=142<!--140–174 --> |isbn=<!--1580461239, -->9781580461238}}</ref>

<ref name="lane2021">{{cite book|last=Lane |first=Kris |author-link=Kris Lane |title=Potosi: The Silver City That Changed the World |location= |publisher=Univ of California Press |year=2021|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWMOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA204 |pages=142, 185, 204 |isbn=<!--0520383354, -->9780520383357}}</ref>

<ref name="quentas_ormachea1986">{{cite journal|last=Cuentas Ormachea |first=Enrique |author-link=<!--Enrique Cuentas Ormachea--> |title=La Diablada: una expresión de coreografía mestiza del altiplano del Collao |journal=Boletín de Lima |number=44 |date=1986 |url= |page=35<!--31–48--> |quote=El indígena no repudiaba al Supay sino que temiéndole, lo invocaba y rendía culto para evitar que le hiciera daño |language=es}}</ref>

<ref name="perrin2009">{{cite book|last=Perrin |first=Marie France |author-link=<!--Marie France Perrin--> |others=Photographs by Jaime Cisneros |title=Bolivia vestida de fiesta |location=La Paz, Bolivia |publisher=Impr. Sagitario |year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LL5OAQAAIAAJ&q=supay |page=104  |isbn=<!--9995406802, -->9789995406806 |quote=Supay, el diablo más importante de la danza Diablada/ Supay, the dance's most important devil.. Virgen de la Candelaria o del Socavón , la que hasta el día de hoy es venerada especialmente por los mineros |language=es, en}}</ref>

<ref name="quispe-agnoli2017">{{cite book|last=Quispe-Agnoli |first=Rocío |author-link=<!--Rocío Quispe-Agnoli--> |chapter=Sacred as Evil Otherness in Early Colonial Andes |editor-last=Díaz |editor-first=Mónica |editor-link=<!--Mónica Díaz--> |title=To Be Indio in Colonial Spanish America |location= |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TlXSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA197| pages=196–198, notes on p. 213<!--191–218-->|isbn=<!--0826357733, -->9780826357731}}</ref>

<ref name="ramirez2018">{{cite book|last=Ramírez |first=Susan Elizabeth |author-link=<!--Susan Elizabeth Ramírez--> |chapter=2. Ancestralities and the Failure of Colonial Regimes |editor1-last=Santoro |editor1-first=Miléna |editor1-link=<!--Miléna Santoro--> |editor2-last=Langer |editor2-first=Erick D. |editor2-link=<!--Erick D. Langer-->|title=Hemispheric Indigeneities: Native Identity and Agency in Mesoamerica, the Andes, and Canada |location= |publisher=U of Nebraska Press  |year=2018 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y4l1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA56 | pages=54–56<!--45– --> |isbn=<!--1496206622, -->9781496206626}}</ref>

<ref name="sallnow1989">{{cite book|last=Sallnow|first=M. J. |author-link=<!--M. J. Sallnow--> |chapter=9. Precious metals in the Andean moral economy  |editor1-last=Parry |editor1-first=Jonathan P. |editor1-link=Jonathan Parry  |editor2-last=Bloch |editor2-first=Maurice |editor2-link=Maurice Bloch |title=Money and the Morality of Exchange |location= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1989 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LXpBkJTRnSoC&pg=PA213 |page=213<!--209–231--> |isbn=<!--0521367743, -->9780521367745 }}</ref>

<ref name="silverblatt1987">{{cite book|last=Silverblatt |first=Irene |author-link=Irene Silverblatt |title=Moon, Sun, and Witches: Gender Ideologies and Class in Inca and Colonial Peru |location= |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RS8pDscWlpIC&pg=PA177| pages=176–178 |isbn=<!--0691022585, -->9780691022581}}</ref>

<ref name="strong2012">{{cite book|last=Strong |first=Mary |author-link=<!--Mary Strong--> |chapter=Chapter 6. Home Altars (Retablos)  |title=Art, Nature, and Religion in the Central Andes: Themes and Variations from Prehistory to the Present |location= |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2012 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAuSlHKClM8C&pg=PA210 |page=210<!--195–218--> |isbn=<!--0292742908, -->9780292742901}}</ref>

<ref name="urteaga1911">{{cite journal|last=Urteaga |first=Horacio H. |author-link=:es:Horacio Urteaga |title=Bocetos historicos: El culto de Supay y el de la Virgen Madre |journal=Illustración peruana |number=71 |date=8 February 1911 |url=https://books.google.com/books?pg=PA823&q=Supay |page=823<!--822–823--> |language=es}}<!--Dedicated to Valentín Ampuero, Monseñor de Puno--></ref>
}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal|ref={{SfnRef|Claure Covarrubias|Monotoya|2005}}|last=Claure Covarrubias |first=Javier  |author-link=<!--Javier Claure Covarrubias--> |title=Entrevista Con El Escritor Victor Montoya: El Tío De La Mina Se Universaliza en Europa |journal=Bolivian Studies Journal |number=12 |date=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-YLjAAAAMAAJ&q=Supay |pages=48–78 |language=es}}
* {{cite book|last=LeCount |first=Cynthia Gravelle |author-link=<!--Cynthia Gravelle LeCount--> |title=Diablos, Morenos Y Caporales: Tradition and Innovation in Bolivian Festival Costume |location= |publisher=University of California, Davis |year=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jkUoxhJFlQIC&dq=Supay |pages= |isbn=}}
* {{cite book|last=Taylor |first=Gérald |author-link=:es:Gerald Taylor |title=Camac, camay y camasca y otros ensayos sobre Huarochirí y Yauyos |location= |publisher=Na Officina de Miguel Manescal da Costa |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_5rAAAAMAAJ&q=supay |pages=19–34 |isbn=<!--9972691357,--> 9789972691355|language=es}}

{{refend}}

{{Inca Empire topics}}

[[Category:Inca gods]]
[[Category:Death gods]]
[[Category:Underworld gods]]
[[Category:Quechua words and phrases]]
[[Category:Peruvian folklore]]
[[Category:Culture of Peru]]