# Supay

In the Quechua, Aymara, and Inca mythologies, Supay (from Quechua: supay "shadow"; Aymara: Supaya) was originally an ambivalent spirit, both benevolent and harmful, a denizen of the Incan netherworld (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" (sombra), as do Father Diego González Holguín (1608) under "çupan" and under "supa" Jorge A. Lira (1945) and Jesús Lara (1971). In early Quechua-Spanish usage, the sense of "shadow" or "soul" or "anima" is followed.
Other forms include: zupay, çupay, hupai, hupee.

## 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). This sense had not been lost to Friar Domingo de Santo Tomás whose dictionary glossed the term as both "good angel" alliçupa and "bad angel" manaalliçupa in his Lexicón (1560), and only the spirit he qualified as bad, i.e., mana alii çupa "evil supay" corresponded to devils, as according to the quoted sermon about fallen angels inserted in the dictionary. However, the Christianized Spaniards went on to apply the term "supay" conveniently to mean strictly "devil".
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.
In the more original conception, the supay dwelled in the netherworld called "Ura Pacha" (or Uku Pacha, in the Incan three-world view) but the supaya as living "shadows" (as per the meaning of the word) may wander into the world of the living ("Kay Pacha", 'Hereworld') to "gather companions" into the world of the dead. The supaya is (typically) the soul of an ancestor, and may assist the living by providing counsel for proper conduct in order to achieve peace (in death). The supaya represents a necessary force of nature that wither things in order to bring about new life.
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 God,

## Modern Andean-Christian belief

The name Supay is now roughly translated into diablo (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), the "god of the mountains", or "the spirit or god who lived in the earth".
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. While scholarly argument postulates Tío to have been a sort of Spanish invented frightening god/boogeyman and thus a corruption of Dios, the popular notion is that the miners avoid the derogatory supay and call him Tío, or "uncle". The name is sometimes concatenated as "Tío Supay" or "Uncle Supay".
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.
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). This Catholic Virgin Mother is the Pachamama's counterpart, just as the Devil is the replacement for Supay.

## Mining communities

Supay is given original meaning in the miner's communities, with Tío or Supay recognized as the lord of the mines, sometimes conflated together into figure of Tío Supay, as already discussed. And the Virgin of the Mineshaft (Virgen del Socavón) is the mining communities' alias of the Virgin of Candelaria previously discussed.
In Oruro, Bolivia, the Carnaval de Oruro features the diablada dance with the Supay cast in the role of its most important devil The carnival dance may also feature the china supay or "she-devils" of overtly sexual nature that used to be performed by men.
In the miners' lore, Tío was the king of the underground (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.

## Retablos

Vintage Andean household altars or retablos 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.