3.22.2019

GODDESSES AND HEROINES - SOUTH AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Atabei
Europeans, imagining South America controlled by women, named its major river after mythic Greek warrior women. But far from being an Amazonian paradise, South America is home to myths describing the destruction of woman-centered religion. Whether those myths recall actual social change or express tension between the sexes is impossible to know, but native South American mythology bears consideration by those interested in women’s religious status.

South America has been settled for some 30,000 years, although the southern tip was settled only about 7,000 years ago. The continent’s written history began in the fifteenth century CE, when South America supported between 8 and 30 million people. More than 3 million were under the rule of the Inca Empire, while smaller societies spread through the Amazon basin, the valleys of the Andes, and the southern plateaus. Such diverse geography encouraged development of some 3,000 cultures, ranging from small village groups to fairly large states.

The earliest known South American civilization was the Chavin of coastal Peru (900–200 BCE). Because the culture ended in prehistory, the names of its divinities are unknown, although some later figures may descend from them. Following the Chavin, the Chibcha (400–300 BCE) developed a corn-based economy, with salt and emerald mining providing goods for trade. Later, Arawak- and Carib-speaking people forced the Chibcha from their fertile valleys. Descendants of the Chibcha still occupy parts of Colombia; Bogotá was one of their ancient strongholds. As with many South American cultures, the Chibcha declined after assault by the Spanish.

Much literature about South American religion centers on the Inca, whose civilization held sway from 1438 to 1533. Patriarchal theocrats, the Inca oppressed the region’s tribal people, including the Quichua-Aymara, who domesticated the llama and alpaca. The Inca are of relatively little interest to goddess scholars, having few known female divinities.

Beyond the Andes, people of the tropical forests were agriculturalists whose religion centered on a shamanic worldview. Hundreds of cultures existed (some still) in the watersheds of the Amazon and Orinoco. Elsewhere, southern Andean people relied upon river trade and agriculture, although they also were pastoralists with herds of llamas. Religion was shamanic, and belief in witchcraft common. Finally, those in economically marginal areas relied upon shamanic practices to sustain their hunting economy.

After the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores, the region’s history was written from a European perspective. In terms of religion, with the exception of documents describing indigenous divinities as devilish, the region was generally ignored. Many cultures were destroyed or assimilated, leaving no record of their goddesses. In the late nineteenth century, anthropologists began recording myths and legends. Although collection of myths and folklore continues, most collectors are men, who often pay greater attention to male than to female motifs.

South America attracts scholarly and popular interest because of its continuing shamanic cultures. Although South American shamans were typically male, the role was also open to women, and men often wore female ritual clothing. Some legends suggest shamanism was originally a women’s role, later taken over by men.

Central to most South American cultures was a feminine divinity, most often an earth goddess or ancestral mother. Several myths suggest an ancient cultural primacy of women, describing how men claimed power by killing women and girls, keeping only female infants to reproduce the tribe. Despite this, concern for the earth as a maternal being who, in turn, must be cared for by her children, was widespread in South America.

After the European invasion, a Christian veneer covered some native traditions. In addition, the arrival of enslaved Africans led to the development of syncretic religions: Macumba in Brazil, Santeria in Puerto Rico, and Voudoun in Haiti. As in other areas where literacy and Christianity arrived together, written documents that describe pre-contact South American and Caribbean religion are of questionable reliability. Most South American and Caribbean cultures relied upon oral transmission of myths and history, so massacres and persecution destroyed some mythologies when the culture bearers were killed, as was the case in Uruguay, where no native cultures survive. (Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean religions are discussed on pp. 2–3.)

In the past fifty years, the establishment of coffee plantations and cattle ranches has significantly endangered the survival of ethnic cultures in Amazonia. In other parts of South America, natural resources similarly put other indigenous cultures at risk. Recently, spiritual tourism has flourished, with pilgrims traveling to famous sites such as Machu Picchu. As most of the visitors are from wealthy countries and many indigenous people live in poverty, concern has been raised about the ethics of such exchanges. Although some tourism opportunities are offered under government sponsorship, and many purveyors of spiritual tourism are of indigenous origin, some native South Americans object to the commodification of their spirituality and resist sharing.

SOUTH AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN PANTHEON

Abé mangó. The sun’s daughter among the Amazonian Tukano peoples, Abé mangó taught humanity weaving, cooking, pottery, and herbal medicine. Raped by her father before she descended to live among humans, she taught women to wear clothing to avoid men’s lustful gaze. When the first death occurred, Abé mangó invented funeral rites. (Reichel-Dolmantoff)

Aiakélem. The Yamana people of Tierra del Fuego, on the southern tip of South America, describe Aiakélem as a whale woman. When her husband’s village did not provide her with sufficient food, she returned to her own for supplies. There she met a man with extremely long fingers. On her first night home, he sat next to her, putting his fingers into her vagina so deeply that she grew faint. Aiakélem returned to her husband, but only to retrieve her children, then moved in with the man with the pleasingly long fingers. (Wilbert 1977)

Akewa. The solar myth of the matrilineal Toba of Argentina described a primeval land in the sky filled with beautiful sun women, while earth was full of hairy men. One day the sun women descended to the surface, leaving Akewa behind. On earth, the sun maidens were trapped when the hairy men ate their rope ladder. After that, the sun women’s descendants lived among men, looking up at Akewa, a fat smiling woman who walked the sky. She grew older as the year aged, walking more slowly and lengthening days in summer, but she grew younger in winter, and her speedy stride made days shorter. (Karsten; Metraux)

Alamigi. In central Brazil, the Kalapalo people live in the national park of Xingu, where they support themselves in traditional fashion from their fields of manioc. They tell the cautionary story of Alamigi, one of the Dawn People who lived on the primordial earth. Every night Alamigi teased the gray birds called nightjars for their ugly song. But the birds, angry at her disrespect, punished Alamigi.

First they sent a bird, disguised as a human, into Alamigi’s house while the girl was away and tricked a woman into revealing the girl’s name. Then they put a spell on the whole village, so everyone fell into a profound sleep. The birds slipped into Alamigi’s house and tied the girl up in her hammock. By the time she woke up, she was in the middle of a lake.

Frightened, she called for help. A bird, the banded tinamous, called loud enough to guide Alamigi from the lake. But then the bird flew away, leaving Alamigi frightened and alone. Then she heard the sound of a tiger heron and, following its call, got lost in the forest. The bird took pity on the girl and, after extracting a promise from her that she would never deride birds again, led her home. (Basso)

Amao. A fish impregnated this Amazonian ancestral mother by entering her vulva, but her infant died. She wept desperately until the child awakened and revealed that he had been frightened to death by animals. In grief, she turned the animals to stones near her child’s grave, then invented the arts of civilization that she taught people before disappearing. (Lévi-Strauss)

Amáru. The ancestral mother of the Amazonian Baniwa and Wakuén was one of three beings breathed into existence at the beginning of time. All-powerful Amáru made herself pregnant with a hairy child born without a mouth. Another primal being blew smoke on the boy, who began eating people until he was killed; his body grew into a poisonous plant from which mosquitoes and snakes were born. But the plant had its uses, for it formed the first flutes, which Amáru claimed on behalf of all women.

The men denied the women’s claim to the instruments, so they suggested a race to settle the question. But Amáru stole back the flutes and ran away with them, inventing music as she ran. Her brother then killed all women except Amáru with a thunderbolt. Afterward, the men used the flutes in magical ceremonies. (Bierhorst 1988)

Amusha. According to the Yupa of Venezuela, this baby girl grew up to be a deer. She never was happy indoors, crying incessantly until her mother left her alone in the house. When she returned, Amusha was gone. She was found nestled in the roots of a huge old tree. After that point, the girl would eat nothing but leaves. White spots and fur began to appear on her body. Finally she ran on four legs into the woods, where she was transformed into a deer. (Wilbert 1974)

Auchimalgen. This kindly moon goddess was a primary divinity of the Araucanians of Chile. Auchimalgen was a seer, foretelling great events by changing the color of her face. Her servants were nymphs called Amchimalghen. (Alexander)

Anuanaitu. Just after creation, said the Caribbean peoples, men were ugly and women beautiful. But there was one handsome man, Maconaura, who lived with his mother in the jungle of primordial time, when there was no evil and no fear.

One day Maconaura found someone had been raiding his fishnet. The thief also had ripped the nets. Maconaura set a woodpecker to guard the nets and soon heard the bird’s cry. Running to the pond, the man saw a water monster and shot it. Then he discovered on the shore a girl, Anuanaitu, whom he took home for his mother to raise.

When she grew up, Anuanaitu was Maconaura’s choice for a wife. She demurred at first, for she could not marry without her parents’ consent and she refused to reveal their identity. Finally she gave way and married Maconaura. The pair decided it would be best to travel to the woman’s village and seek the blessing of her parents. Anuanaitu’s mother quickly agreed to the match, but her father subjected Maconaura to near-impossible tests of skill and courage, on which the young man performed well.

One day Maconaura decided to visit his own family. On his return to Anuanaitu’s village, her father shot him dead. War broke out between the families, with Anuanaitu’s kin destroyed in the battles. She lived but became entranced with the spirits of the dead. Traveling in rattlesnake form to her husband’s village, she determined to take revenge. She struck a poisonous blow, revealing that the water monster slain by Maconaura had been her brother.

Then Anuanaitu ran through the world, which turned dark and fearsome as she crossed it, until she reached the ocean. She threw herself into the water and drowned where today a dangerous whirlpool sucks. There she was reunited with her lover, and she reigns there now as the Soul of the Ocean. (Bierhorst 1988)

Anuntero. The Tapirapé people, who once inhabited lands along the Brazilian river that bears their name, have almost disappeared. They considered themselves aboriginal to the area, for when their culture hero Apuwenonu descended from the sky, he took a wife from the Tapirapé. She was Anuntero, the first woman to learn to make useful objects (hammocks, body ornaments) from cotton. (Wagley)

Atabei. The primary being of the pre-Hispanic people of the Antilles was called by many names: Attabeira, Momona, Guabancex, Guacarapita, Iella, Guimazoa, Iermaoguacar, Apito, Zuimaco. Little is known of her rites, although she was recognized as an earth goddess by the Antillean people, whose language included a vocabulary known only to women. Atabei was served by a messenger goddess, Guatauva, and by the hurricane goddess Coatrischie. Some sources suggest that Haitian Guabancex was a separate spirit, able to raise storms when angry. (Alexander; Roth)

Aturuaródo. The Bororo Indians of Bolivia describe this woman, who helped domesticate plants, as the unwitting mother of a monster child. When a hero avenged the death of his mother by killing a snaky monster, he brought pieces of his prey back to the village, where the women celebrated with a victory dance. One woman, Aturuaródo, failed to cover herself with leaves to protect herself from the monster’s dripping blood and found herself pregnant. Stricken with the food cravings of pregnancy, she found herself staring at some ripe fruit and, to her surprise, heard a voice from her belly. It was her unborn son, who climbed out and got the fruit for his mother. Aturuaródo was distressed to see the child was a monster like his father. She told the other villages, and they returned to the tree with her and saw how the unborn child emerged. So they killed it, to Aturuaródo’s relief and grief. Later, when she returned to where they had burned the body of her son, she found that his ashes had turned into seeds of useful plants. (Wilbert and Simoneau 1983)

Bachúe. The ancestor goddess of Colombia’s Chibcha, Bachúe lived beneath lake waters but, deciding to live on land, rose from the waves with her son. When he had grown, Bachúe mated with him to produce the human race. Teaching her offspring suitable religious rites, Bachúe transformed herself and her son-husband into snakes. Thereafter, Bachúe served humankind as a protector of fields and crops. (Bierhorst 1988; Alexander; Osbourne)

Ceiuci. One of the stars of the Pleiades lived on earth as Ceiuci, said the Amazonian Anambé. One day, the shadow of a young man fell across the pond where she was fishing. Ceiuci ordered him to dive into the pool. The man refused, but when the goddess sent stinging red ants, he obeyed.

Once she had him in the water, Ceiuci snagged the man with her fishing line. At home, while the goddess was gathering wood to cook her catch, Ceiuci’s daughter hid him. When Ceiuci demanded her prey, the girl and the boy ran away, dropping palm branches as they went. These became animals, which Ceiuci gobbled up. Even when all species had been created, Ceiuci pursued the runaways. The girl stopped, but the young man continued until he reached his home.

In other tales, this goddess appears as a star woman who dances in the Pleiades. A similarly named goddess, Ceucy, was believed by the Tupi to have been impregnated by tree sap; she gave birth to a boy who stole women’s religious powers and forbade them to witness rituals. When Ceucy tried to attend one, her son put her to death. (Bierhorst 1976; Jones)

Chaupi Ñamca. Born before time began, the Inca’s principal goddess Chaupi Ñamca created women, while her consort created men. She loved sex and turned herself into a human woman in order to seduce men. But after she met a man named Rucancota, she turned herself to stone to remain with him forever. She was honored at the winter solstice, when her priests performed erotic dances. Her five-armed stone image was hidden from Spanish invaders, and her festival was converted to the Christian one of Corpus Christi. (Steele)

Chuquillanto. An Incan romance begins with Chuquillanto, daughter of the sun, falling in love with a llama herder who wore a silver locket that showed a heart being eaten by lice. Chuquillanto felt her heart eaten away after meeting the young man, Acoynapa. She returned to the palace where she lived with other sun women who were pledged to a life without men and who tended four fountains named pebble (northwest), frog (southwest), water weed (northeast), and algae (southeast). There she dreamed of a little bird who listened to her tale of thwarted love and advised her to sit at the center of the four fountains and sing of her love. When the fountains sang back to her, she knew she had to follow her heart.

But she was pledged to her duties as priestess of the sun, so she did not know how she might find her way to Acoynapa’s bed. His mother, however, dreamed of her son and, climbing the mountains to him, found him almost sick with love of Chuquillanto. Employing magic, she turned him into a carved stick, which, when Chuquillanto came to visit, she gave to the maiden. Thus was Chuquillanto able to bring her lover right into the sun palace and to sleep with him there. But one day, when she took the staff out to a mountain ravine and Acoynapa emerged from it, they were observed by palace guards. As they tried to escape, the pair of lovers were turned to stone, which can still be seen today as the crags of Pitusiray. (Bierhorst 1976)

Cki. This helpful child of the vegetation goddess Nugkui could simply say “let there be manioc,” and the house would fill with manioc. Bullying children demanded Cki produce various foods, which she obligingly did. But when the children demanded demons, and Cki brought them forth, the children beat her. Cki disappeared. When the parents came home and found the magical child missing, they searched everywhere. When they found her, her powers were gone. (Harner)

Coadidop. Among the Amazonian Jauareté, the creatrix Coadidop grew bored with her solitude and invented smoking. Using two of her own bones to create a cigar holder, she squeezed tobacco from her body. Then she created and smoked the coca plant. She began to see beings. In claps of thunder and bursts of lightning, men came into being but disappeared. It took Coadidop three tries before she created a man who remained in existence. Then she set about creating women. Her son made three brothers, while Coadidop made two sisters. She measured her head with a cord, laid the cord in a circle, then squeezed her breast. Milk filled the circle and formed the earth, which she gave to the women. But men wrested away control, refusing women access to religious rituals. (Bierhorst 1988)

Cocomama. The coca goddess was cut in half by jealous lovers. Her dismembered body grew into the first coca bush, whose leaves men could not chew until they had satisfied a woman’s sexual needs. Since Incan times, coca leaves have been used in ceremonies honoring Pachamama, who demanded it in exchange for good crops. (Alexander; Arriaga; Osbourne)

Gasogonaga. This Toba weather goddess appeared to shamans in visions induced by psychotropic plants. The Toba’s nomadic existence ended with Spanish colonization; they now live as agriculturalists, their traditional religion mostly lost to Pentecostal Christianity. Nonetheless, some practitioners still encounter Gasogonaga, who looks like a vast multicolored animal from whose mouth comes lightning. (Langdon and Baer)

Gaulchováng. “Song Woman” was the primary divinity of the Kogi of Colombia. A beautiful, fat, black-haired woman who sat on a stone in the lowest of nine worlds, she gave birth to all beings and actions. Gaulchováng pulled from herself maleness and created a child, then a jaguar. She created humans, then ancestors and culture heroes. Finally Gaulchováng gave birth to nine daughters, each a different kind of soil (Black Earth, Red Earth, and so forth). She swallowed half the ocean, so land appeared.

At this point Sintána, one of the ancestors, demanded a wife, so Gaulchováng offered him the eight less powerful daughters, trying to keep Black Earth for herself. But Sintána stole the maiden and ran across the earth with her; wherever Black Earth set foot, soil good for raising crops appeared. Gaulchováng sent lizards in pursuit of the eloping couple, but Sintána and Black Earth evaded them to become ancestors of the Kogi people. (Bierhorst 1988)

Gauteovan. The ancestral mother of the people of the Sierra Nevada in Colombia created the sun from her menstrual blood. She created the visible and the invisible worlds, including demons that cause illness. She was the region’s most significant deity. (Steward 2)

Hálpen. This powerful goddess of the Argentinean Selknam and Alacaluf lived in the sky, from which she descended to eat humans. Her sister was Tanu, who lived inside the earth. Looking for Tanu, women dug holes, forming lakes and mountains. When they could not find her, they impersonated her in rituals. When religious power was taken from women, men continued to invoke Hálpen and Tanu. (Bierhorst 1988; Koppers)

Húanaxu. A myth of the Yamana of Tierra del Fuego concerned this spirit of the moon. At a time when women ruled, she brought her people from the east to a land called Yáiaasaága, where the men did housework and raised children. A few talented male hunters provided women with meat, while the latter concentrated on ritual.

The men felt oppressed by work, but the powerful spirits the women invoked frightened them. Then Húanaxu’s brother-in-law overheard girls discussing impersonating spirits. In punishment, the girls were transformed into quacking ducks. The men plotted to grab power, which Téšurkipa learned. She tried to warn her sisters. Furious at being tricked, the men broke into the ritual area and killed all the women except the very old and very young. After that, men took over the rituals and made the women do housework. If the women were ever to find the secret of their lost power, the power would pass again to them.

Húanaxu survived the massacre and rose into the sky, causing a flood that wiped out many of the Yamana people. She still bears the scars from the great battle of men against women, visible on the moon’s face. (Wilbert 1977)

Huitaca. The Chibcha moon goddess of intoxication, Huitaca was the rival of a male preacher, Bochica, who taught crafts along with a puritanical attitude toward life. Continually undoing his efforts was the owl woman Huitaca, sometimes said to be his wife. Once, Huitaca became so angry she raised a flood, drowning Bochica’s followers. So her husband threw her to the sky, where she became the moon. (Steward 2; Osbourne)

Itiba Cahubaba. Among the Taíno, a pre-Hispanic people of Cuba and other Caribbean islands, this woman (“bloodied mother hag”) was the great ancestor. She died attempting to bear quadruplet sons, so the boys were torn from her corpse. The creator god had killed his only son and put his bones in a gourd hung in the rafters. The bones turned to fish, on which the god lived. But the newborn boys wanted to eat too, so they climbed up and knocked the gourd down. It fell and broke, and its water created oceans. (Arrom)

Kasoronara’. The Toba goddess of lighting disliked spirits, so she threw herself on their homes whenever a rainstorm gave her the chance. Once on the surface, she hid, calling out to passersby to help build a fire. Those who answered gained the ability to call forth rain when needed. On the smoke of the fires, Kasoronara’ wafted back into the sky. (Metraux)

Kopecho. The Yupa said two suns once parched the earth. So Kopecho invited both suns to a feast, where she danced suggestively. One sun grasped at her and fell into a pit of coals. He was accustomed to heat, so nothing happened except that his light dimmed, turning him into the moon. He threw Kopecho into water, where she transformed into the first frog. (Wilbert 1974)

Korobōna. With her sister Korobonáko, this Warrau divinity lived beside a lake the girls were forbidden to enter. Rebellious Korobōna went swimming and accidentally released a captive divinity, who had intercourse with her. Korobōna gave birth to a human child, then visited the water deity again, returning pregnant with a half-serpent baby her brothers killed. When Korobōna offered the dead babe her breasts, it revived. Korobōna’s brothers discovered the baby and dismembered it. The grieving mother gathered the pieces, planted them in the earth, and watched a Carib warrior spring forth and drive the brothers away. Scholars believe Korobōna was a local name for the creator goddess Kururumany, sometimes described as a god who created men while a goddess, Kulimina, created women. (Alexander; Brett; Bierhorst 1976; Jones)

Kuma. Among the Yaruro people of western Venezuela, the creator goddess Kuma dressed as a shaman with gold jewelry. She was the first living being on earth, for which reason the people said, “Everybody sprang from Kuma.” She created land and then asked the god Puana to have intercourse with her thumb, but instead he impregnated her womb. After Kuma gave birth to sun, moon, snake, and jaguar, she sent her children looking for people, who were found in a hole. Kuma gave the gods a rope and hook, with which they pulled up human life.

In the cold, dark world to which they had been brought, the people shivered. But a divine toad woman, Kibero, held fire in her breast and gave it to the people. Kuma taught the women pottery skills and basket weaving, then created society. She remained accessible to shamans who painted her on their drums. (Bierhorst 1988; Lyon)

Léxuwa. The sensitive ibis woman lived in the Yamana primeval time, when women controlled everything. She grew angry because, when she brought springtime, people screamed with delight, hurting her sensitive ears, so she dropped unseasonable snow on them. To avoid late snows, people were silent when they saw an ibis fly in spring. Once, Léxuwa brought a huge storm. Snow fell until glaciers covered the earth. When the glaciers began to melt, the seas rose. Some peoples ran for five tall mountains and survived, but most people died. Léxuwa intended to kill humanity, because men were warring against women for control of ritual and religion. After the flood, the men remained in control. (Wilbert 1977)

Mama Cocha. The eldest Peruvian divinity was “Mother Sea,” worshipped along South America’s Pacific coast. As fish provider and whale goddess, Mama Cocha was the source of food. She also ruled fresh water as goddess of rain. Her image was shaped in blue-green stone and stood on the shore of Lake Titicaca, where Peruvians believed creation occurred. (Arriaga; Steward 2)

Mama Ocllo. When the Spanish invaded South America, they found many names for the fore-mothers of the Inca: Mama Ocllo or Mama Ocllo Huaca (“fat woman”), Mama Huaco/Wako (“great-grandmother,” “tooth woman”), Mama Coya/Cura (“aunt,” “daughter-in-law”), and Mama Rahua (“burning woman”). Alternatively, the names of the quartet of goddesses were Topa Huaco, Mama Coya, Cori Ocllo, and Ipa Huaco.

Mama Ocllo, the most intelligent, found habitable land. She killed a Poque Indian and removed his lungs. Carrying the bloody organs, Mama Ocllo entered the towns, where residents fled, leaving the region to the people of Mama Ocllo. (This may be a folk memory of Incan massacres of indigenous people.)

Mama Coya was the daughter of the sun and sister-wife of the original Incan leader. Born from the waters of Lake Titicaca, the pair traveled to Cuzco, stopping along the way to puncture the earth with a golden spike. Where it entered the ground easily, they stopped and gathered people. Mama Coya and her brother founded cities over which Mama Coya and her brother ruled, she over women, he over men. The same story is told of Mama Ocllo, so the distinction between the ancestral mothers was not sharp. (Bandelier; Bierhorst 1976; Lamadrid; Osbourne; Steele)

Mama Quilla. Among the Inca, this was “Mother Moon,” honored at calendar-fixed rituals and during eclipses, when it was believed that a supernatural jaguar attempted to devour her. The Inca made noise with weapons to threaten the intruder, a custom that has not died in Cuzco. (Arriaga; Steward 2)

Nugkui. At the beginning of time, the Aguaruna people lived on mashed balsa wood cooked in their armpits. A woman saw peeled manioc floating downstream and followed the trail upriver to Nugkui, who was washing her dinner in the river. The woman begged Nugkui to go with her, but Nugkui sent her daughter Cki to the humans to teach cooking and gardening. Although Cki was mistreated by human children, Nugkui decided to help the humans. She came into a woman’s dreams and taught her where to find seeds of good-tasting plants. She taught her how to make pottery and how to bake it in the sun.

Nugkui lives in good garden soil, where she nurtures plants. She also is found in caves, from which she sends forth animals for hunters. Her companions were goddesses of plants found in association with the important food plant manioc: Chiki (arrowroot), who provides water to Nugkui; Sagku (cocoyam), a big-leaved plant that also brings water; and Tuju (ahicra), a plant with twisted leaves that grows with manioc. Nugkui may be the same as the figure as Mama Dukuji, who lives in the biggest manioc plant in the garden; she was never to be looked at directly, or she would defecate weeds.

Among the Jívaro of eastern Ecuador, the goddess Nunuí provides food by pushing plants up through the soil. Attracting Nunuí means placing three jasper rocks around the garden and leaving enough open space that fat Nunuí can dance. Dressed in black, she comes out at night and spins among the plants, dancing with each in turn.

Letting weeds grow among the manioc plants drove Nunuí from the garden, for if she felt crowded, she retreated underground, taking the manioc with her. Heat also caused Nunuí to move underground, which is why women gathered crops early in the day. (Bierhorst 1988; Brown; Brown and Van Bolt; Harner; Paper; Von Hagen)

Orchu. The Arawak say the divine Orchu rose from a stream bearing a branch, which bore the first gourds. She taught humanity how to put stones in the dried gourds to make rattles, as well as how to use the instruments in ritual. (Brett)

Pachamama. Among the Chibcha of Colombia, the earth was a dragon who lived beneath the mountains. Occasionally she quivered, causing earthquakes. All beings on earth were children of voluptuous Pachamama, the preeminent deity of agriculture. During planting and harvest, women talked softly to Pachamama, sometimes pouring an offering of cornmeal on her surface. As agricultural rituals were the domain of women, Pachamama was especially important to them; she was honored at weddings to encourage fertility.

Other South Americans honored her at all their ceremonies. Coca and beer were offered to her, and balls of grease decorated with silver paper. Kissing the earth honored Pachamama. Among the Tacana, Pachamama survives as the “old woman of the forest,” who taught humans the art of making beer and who created night and day. This earth mother is distinguished from the fat dwarf mother of vegetation, called Chagra Mama by the neighboring Canelos Quechua. (Arriaga; Bierhorst 1988; Lyon; Salles-Reese; Steward 2)

Petá. To the Yanomamö people of Brazil and Venezuela, this was the name of the first woman, born from the leg of a bird. She married four brothers, with whom she lived happily. But trouble arose when the men argued over which of them should have sex with Petá. So she tied their penises up while they slept, attaching them with strings to their waistbands. Only when she untied them could they have intercourse with her.

Because women had stronger children if they had intercourse with many men during pregnancy, Petá enjoyed all four husbands while carrying her son, who shot an arrow at the moon that caused an eclipse, which in turn caused the earth to be flooded with blood. From this blood, the Yanomamö were born, and Petá remained their chief.

One night while the village slept, a jaguar dragged Petá away into his cave den, where she found two jaguar cubs beside their dead mother. She offered her breasts to the cubs, who grew overnight into full-sized jaguars. At that moment, Petá’s husbands arrived to save her. Miraculously, the jaguar mother recovered and came between the men and the jaguars. Thanking Petá for saving her children, she turned into a woman, Perimbó, and the cubs turned into her daughters. The girls returned home with Petá, while the jaguar couple disappeared. (Becher; Wilbert and Simoneau)

Pulówi. The Guajiro honored the underworld mother Pulówi. She resented hunters, so she seduced them to keep animals safe. One hunter wounded a doe and, following her, found himself under the earth, where only women lived. Pulówi appeared wearing golden bands around her ankles and wrists. The man spit on the ground, turning the women into animals. Impressed with his power, Pulówi entreated him to remove his arrow from the doe. He did so and found himself on the surface world again. Shortly afterward he and his family disappeared. (Bierhorst 1988)

Sicasica. A mountain goddess of the Aymara of Bolivia, Sicasica seduced men by luring them into glaciers. Anyone found dead was believed to have refused to honor Sicasica. (Osbourne)

Táita. This Selknan woman controlled the world’s water, which she covered with fur. Desperate people tried to steal water, but Táita killed them. So the hero Táiyin killed her, then began throwing stones around, forming the mountains. (Wilbert 1975)

Takasa. To the Yamana, the animals and birds on which they depended each had a special divinity. Takasa and her associate Wémarkipa were spirits of the seagull; other similar feminine spirits included Wíyen (sea duck), Kimoa (goose), Wípatux (duck), Cilawáiakip (fox), and Wesána (rat). (Wilbert 1977)

Tamparawa. Among the Amazonian Tapirapé people, this moon goddess was ancestor of all. Assaulted by her brother, the sun, who slapped her and caused marks on the moon’s face, Tamparawa married a man of the Tapirapé. But he found it difficult to have intercourse because he feared her strong vagina would cut off his penis. So she bathed in fish poison and had intercourse with a piranha, making her husband safe. (Wagley)

Tséhmataki. The Chorote people believed in a cannibal woman with a long tail who hunted people, knocking down houses to get to them. She controlled the earth, which shook at her voice. The ground turned soggy when she wished to capture humans, who found themselves trapped in quicksand. But a shaman killed her. He burned her body, from which emerged vampire bats, owls, and cuckoos. Monkeys and other helpers of shamans also came forth. Finally a plant grew where she had fallen: tobacco. (Bierhorst 1988)

Tsugki. The central Andean spirit Tsugki lived in the bottom of a whirlpool, above which she appeared as a rainbow. Once she lured a handsome man home. But an anaconda lived with her, and the man could not abide the serpent. So the couple moved onto land, but the man’s mother saw Tsugki in snake shape and drove her from the village. Insulted, Tsugki caused a flood and attacked with an army of dolphins and anacondas, killing everyone except her husband. She became the first shaman and was invoked for love magic. (Bierhorst 1988; Brown)

Uretane. This primeval woman knew she was a man despite her woman’s body. The more she wished it, the more she found her body changing. She grew breasts but also a penis, so she would not bathe with others. One day she noticed a woman she desired, so she asked the girl to bathe with her. The girl was delighted to discover Uretane had both breasts and penis. There was no objection when she decided to marry Uretane, who did men’s work while the girl performed women’s duties. (Wilbert 1974)

Usirumani. At the beginning of time, according to the Warao, there was only a colorless void. A male shaman owned darkness but kept it wrapped up in a basket. When another male shaman released it, the world grew so dark people could not see to hunt or gather. To bring back light, the offending shaman carved a woman from plum-tree wood. She had no vagina, so the woodpecker dug one, in the process staining his beak red. As the woman’s blood flowed, other animals painted themselves; vultures are dark black, for they came late, when the blood had coagulated.

Among the nearby Waroa, a similar story described Usi-diu, whom a childless shaman created by carving her from plum wood. Usi-diu was incomplete, for she was missing a vagina. This was not obvious until Yar, the sun god, married her. A bird pecked out a vagina, and Usi-diu was soon pregnant. Abandoned by her husband, she got lost trying to find him. Wandering, she found the home of Nanyobo, the frog woman, who sheltered her in return for cleaning the lice from her hair, warning her not to eat the insects. But the nervous Usi-diu forgot the rule and put the lice in her mouth. They poisoned her, and she fell dead. Nanyobo cut out the twins Usi-diu was carrying and raised them. When they were old enough to notice, they grew frightened because every night, Nanyobo made fire by vomiting. They killed the frog woman, and the fire in her body passed into wood. (Wilbert 1970)

Wekatánaxipa. This Yamana fisherwoman invented the sinker, which made her lucky at fishing. But she kept her catch for herself, feeding her grandson only tiny fish. He was always half-starving but thought they were poor, until he discovered his grandmother’s store of fish. Feeling rejected, he painted himself red and flew into the air, becoming a bird. The grandmother, overcome with tears of sorrow, became a cold stream. (Wilbert 1977)

Wowtā. The frog goddess of the Warao could change shape. She used this power when, enamored of the boy Aboré, she transformed herself into a nursemaid. She did magic, stretching him into unrecognizable shape. When the family returned, they thought Aboré had disappeared. Wowtā intended to keep Aboré for her own until he was mature enough to marry. But he figured out her intention. He tried to kill Wowtā, but she escaped. Aboré tried to flee across the water, but Wowtā’s powers extended to the wood of his canoe, which refused to carry him. So he fashioned a canoe out of wax, hoping it would be outside her magic. She almost caught him but liked honey so much that she stopped to eat his boat, permitting his escape. She resumed her frog shape and can be heard in spring, lamenting her loss. (Brett; Wilbert 1970)

Yampan. This goddess of abundance produced gardens full of tasty foods, but no one seemed able to learn her magic, according to the Aguaruna. So she gave up on humanity and moved to the sky, where she lived with the sun. She taught her daughters the power of singing to the garden, and her descendants know secret gardening songs. Her songs were also helpful in brewing beer. (Brown)

Yamuricumá. According to the Kamayurá, the Yamuricumá were women whose husbands were transformed into animals. Left without men, the Yamuricumá women dressed as warriors and began dancing. For days they danced, covering themselves with herbs that transformed them into powerful spirits. Then they found an old man, whom they turned into an armadillo and pressed into service as their herald. Thereafter they wandered the world, calling women away from their homes to join them as warriors. (Bierhorst 1988)

Yanyonböri. The Mundurucú of Brazil said the sacred trumpet was once owned by women but was taken over by men. Three women, Yanyonböri and her companions Tuembirü and Parawarö, discovered a magic lake. Knowledge of the lake led the women to useful inventions, including nets for capturing fish. Once three fish turned into three hollow cylinders, with which the women made music. The three women loved the music so much they forgot their housework. Upset at the mess in which they were forced to live, the men convinced Yanyonböri to bring the trumpets into the village.

Possession of the magical instruments gave the women power, which the men envied. The men had to cook, tend babies, and have sex with the women whenever the women wished. And they had to hunt as well, because the trumpets demanded offerings of meat. The men went on strike, refusing to hunt until they were given the trumpets. Yanyonböri agreed they would share. But the men took the trumpets and refused to let women have access to them. Women since that time have been forced to perform housework and have been refused access to spiritual secrets. (Murphy and Murphy)

Yoálox-tárnuxipa. The most intelligent being of primeval time, said the Yamana, was this woman, sister to two men named Yoálox. She invented the harpoon so they could kill sea animals and created human culture. When Yoálox-tárnuxipa’s brothers wanted to marry, they were too lazy to figure out how. So she invited all the birds to find the best mates for them, and they came back with Mákuxipa, who was already married to a wren. Despite this, the boys settled down to share their wife. All went well until the older brother overheard Mákuxipa telling the younger brother she preferred him sexually because his penis was large. In retaliation, the older brother raped Mákuxipa, who bled from her wounds in the first menstruation. After this, the older brother would have nothing to do with Mákuxipa, who bore a son to the younger brother. Unfortunately, the child was so noisy that the energy of his screams split him in two. Mákuxipa died, leaving her identical sons with their father, who shortly afterward took up with the fox woman, Cilawáiakipa. She dug up and ate Mákuxipa’s body, and she yearned to eat the children, but the boys discovered her intention, and their father killed his new wife. (Koppers; Wilbert 1977)

Written by Patricia Monaghan in "Encyclopedia of Goddesses & Heroines", New World Library, USA, 2014. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.

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