is it possible that....

Yep. It's called syncretization. The Catholic church is famous for it. Examples in the past include coopting pagan rituals (samhain, for one obvious - Happy Midwinter Festival/Sun rebirth; err, I mean, Merry Christmas). It's still going on today. Look up the on-going canonization of Juan Diego (of the "Virgin of Guadalupe" fame - a folkloric cooption). Other religions do the same (albeit not as consistently - Islam, for one.) Anyway, it's a great way of gaining converts - just add-on what the peones are doing, claim it's your idea, and voila, removal of all pre-existing barriers to conversion.