Article

Deities and Spirits in Andean Belief - Towards a Systematisation

Details

Citation

Dedenbach-Salazar Saenz S (2017) Deities and Spirits in Andean Belief - Towards a Systematisation. Anthropos, 112 (2), pp. 443-453. http://www.anthropos.eu/anthropos/journal/abstracts/1122/03.php

Abstract
Most people who live in the rural Andes have considered themselves Christians for several hundred years, and their religion combines traditions of Andean and Christian origins. In order to understand the basic concepts of life in the Andes I will study the deities and spirits who inhabit nature and how they affect human beings. Apart from major deities (Pachamama, the Apus) there are other beings, the spirits: dangerous and evil ones hovering in liminal space and time as well as benevolent ones who help the deities. By systematising materials and studies from Peru, I will show that, although words and certain concepts are blended in what may be called Andean Christianity, the (super)natural world is essentially Andean.

Keywords
Andes; Quechua; 20th century; religion; deities; spirits; Christianisation; cultural blending

Journal
Anthropos: Volume 112, Issue 2

StatusPublished
Publication date31/12/2017
Date accepted by journal31/07/2017
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/25949
PublisherAnthropos Institute
Publisher URLhttp://www.anthropos.eu/…acts/1122/03.php
ISSN0257-9774

People (1)

People

Dr Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar Saenz

Dr Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar Saenz

Honorary Senior Lecturer, Literature and Languages - Division