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quite accepting of the Catholic Religion (Mills 24). Colonial legislation even recognized the practice of local

religious customs so long as they did not directly contradict Spanish Law or Church Morality (Spalding 45). What

resulted turned out to be very similar to the way things had been during the Inca Empire itself, with local leaders

often maintaining the own religious traditions even despite the decrees coming in from Spain (Spalding 217). So

long as they paid their taxes to the Spanish authorities and directly associated their practices with Christian Ideals

and the Christian God, the Andeans were free to apply their rituals should they fit.

Many of these ritual changes are still evident today. Peruvian crucifixes, unlike their European counterparts, often

depict christ in an Incan kilt and headdress, with his head pointed down toward Pachamama, goddess of the Earth

and Life, rather than up to heaven. Many peruvian confessionals are emblazoned with a symbol of the sun forming

a halo around the priest’s head. European Christians may confess their sins before the priest, while the Andean

traditionalists confess their sins before the Sun. By the middle of the twentieth century the Andean-catholic

syncretism had become so cohesive and engrained as to be almost indistinguishable. In 1928, Jose Carlos

Mariategui argued that the Catholic conquest of Peru had in fact failed, claiming that only “the liturgy”, “the cult”,

and the “spiritual and abstract religiosity” had survived, and that the underlying roots of the colonial religion

remained primarily Andean (Mills 243).

The Andean Tradition today remains alive and well across the Andes. It may have hidden itself with

Catholicism for a few centuries but the isolation of certain Andean valleys and the rise of tourism have contributed

to its survival and its reconstitution. Many catholic churches in Peru today will give the Eucharistic blessing in

Quechua, the Inca language, as well as adapt certain festivals like the Inti Raymi in conjunction with catholic

based festivals like Corpus Christi. The Andean Tradition has survived because of it’s tradition to adapt other

cultures and religions into its own. The Andean Catholicism of today is no less Andean than the Inca Religion of

the Imperial Era was. Both are based in the spiritual well-being of the people and both are wholly unique to the

land. The crucifixes, saints, and churches of catholicism have taken their place as huacas alongside the mountains,

rivers, and streams of the Andes. Their tradition survives just as their people do, creating a dynamic and living

faith which is not likely to ever disappear for centuries to come.

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