Supay

Supay was an ambivalent spirit of the Quechua, Aymara and Inca who ruled the Uku Pacha. He stood for shadow, night, darkness and the inevitable passage of death. The word comes from supa, meaning shadow, illness or death.

In its early form the name was neutral: the 1560 Quechua–Spanish dictionary of Friar Domingo de Santo Tomás lists a good spirit, allisupa, and a bad one, manaallisupa. Under Spanish rule Supay was turned into the Christian devil.