ABSTRACT
Following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire the intercultural encounter brought Catholicism and Andean religions into contact. In the course of evangelization Spanish missionaries introduced Christian cosmology and supernatural beings. In particular, the devil as personification of evil was radically different from the Andean idea of complementary oppositions and not easily integrated. Catholic saints, in contrast, bore resemblances to Andean tutelary deities and ancestors, which were inextricably linked to the local groups’ identity and welfare and therefore considered of the utmost importance to Andean peoples. Eventually, Catholic saints merged with Andean deities and were worshipped in a similar way as protectors of the local community. Continuous intercultural encounters in everyday life led to a mutual rapprochement of Andean and Catholic religious practice and thought and sometimes even to a synthesis of the two religious systems.
