The Death of Andean Devils, the Life of Counter-Reformation Saints

This article examines the diabladas, or “dances of devils,” performed in honor of Catholic saints in northern Peru, with a specific focus on the cult of Isidro Labrador. Moving beyond the traditional anthropological emphasis on pre-Columbian elements and the historical analysis of “demonization” of Native beliefs during the colonial period, this study argues that diabladas served as a bridge between the preservation of Native religious identities and the various colonial acculturation campaigns of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By investigating the Indigenous adaptation of a cult closely associated with Spanish colonialism, the article demonstrates that Native resistance was not limited to overt acts of defiance but was also expressed through subtle and sophisticated strategies of intermediation. It highlights how, by joyfully adopting the cults of newly canonized saints, Andean and coastal communities were able to maintain their ritual traditions—particularly the dances connected to agricultural life, which were subjected to intense scrutiny during the “Extirpation of Idolatries” campaigns in seventeenth-century Peru.