List of Native American deities

Last updated

List of Native American deities, sortable by name of tribe or name of deity.

Contents

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

North American gods

South American deities

Tribe or group Deity or spiritNotes
Inca Apu God or spirit of mountains.

All of the important mountains have their own Apu, and some of them receive sacrifices to bring out certain aspects of their being. Some rocks and caves also are credited as having their own apu.

Ataguchu God who assisted in creation myth.
Catequil God of thunder and lightning.
Cavillace Virginity goddess. Ate a fruit, which was actually the sperm of Coniraya, the moon god. And gave birth to a son.
Cavillace's son Son of Cavillace and Coniraya. When he was born, Cavillace demanded that the father step forward. No one did, so she put the baby on the ground and it crawled towards Coniraya. She was ashamed because of Coniraya's low stature among the gods, and ran to the coast of Peru, where she changed herself and her son into rocks.
Ch'aska/ Ch'aska QuyllurGoddess of dawn and twilight.
Coniraya Moon god. Fashioned his sperm into a fruit, which Cavillaca then ate, and gave birth to a child.
Pachamama Fertility Goddess. Wife of Vircocha.
Viracocha Creation God. Husband of Pachamama.
Mama Killa Moon Goddess. Daughter of Vircocha and Pachamama. Wife of Inti.
Inti Sun God. Son of Vircocha and Pachamama. Husband of Mama Killa.
Manco Cápac Son of either Viracocha or Inti. First Emperor of Cuzco of the Inca Empire.
Mama Ocllo Wife of Manco Cápac. First Empress of Cuzco of the Inca Empire.
Ayar Cachi Brother of Manco Cápac.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creation myth</span> Symbolic narrative of how the world began

A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is a type of cosmogony, a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it. While in popular usage the term myth often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truths – metaphorically, symbolically, historically, or literally. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical myths – that is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aztec mythology</span> Collection of myths of the Aztec civilization

Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. There are different accounts of their origin. In the myth the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlan, the last of seven nahuatlacas to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca." Other accounts cite their origin in Chicomoztoc, "the place of the seven caves", or at Tamoanchan.

In Aztec mythology, Tloquenahuaque, Tloque Nahuaque or Tloque Naoaque was one of the epithets of Tezcatlipoca. Miguel Leon Portilla argues that Tloque Nahuaque was also used as an epithet of Ometeotl, the hypothetical duality creator God of the Aztecs. Tloquenahuaque, also referred to as Tloque Nahuaque or Tloque Naoaque, is a creator god in Aztec mythology. Meso-Americans knew this god by other names as well, "Moyocoyani or Hunab Ku".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hopi mythology</span> Native American mythology

The Hopi maintain a complex religious and mythological tradition stretching back over centuries. However, it is difficult to definitively state what all Hopis as a group believe. Like the oral traditions of many other societies, Hopi mythology is not always told consistently and each Hopi mesa, or even each village, may have its own version of a particular story, but "in essence the variants of the Hopi myth bear marked similarity to one another." It is also not clear that the stories told to non-Hopis, such as anthropologists and ethnographers, represent genuine Hopi beliefs or are merely stories told to the curious while keeping safe the more sacred Hopi teachings. As folklorist Harold Courlander states, "there is a Hopi reticence about discussing matters that could be considered ritual secrets or religion-oriented traditions."

In Inuit mythology, Alignak is a lunar deity and god of weather, water, tides, eclipses, and earthquakes.

Julana is a deity of the Jumu and Luritja people of Western Australia and the Northern Territory in Australia. In the mythology of the Jumu and Luritja people, Julana is an echerous spirit who surprises women by burrowing beneath the sand, leaping out, and raping them. When he was alive, he wandered the Earth with his father, Njirana, during the Dreamtime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nu (mythology)</span> Ancient Egyptian personification of the primordial watery abyss

Nu or Nun, in ancient Egyptian religion, is the personification of the primordial watery abyss which existed at the time of creation and from which the creator sun god Ra arose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ọbatala</span> Orisha in Yoruba mythology

Obatala is an orisha in the Yoruba religion that is believed to have been given the task to create the Earth but failed the task by being drunk on palm wine and was outperformed by his little brother Oduduwa. He was instead given the job of creating humans beings. This was authorized by his father, Olodumare which gave Obatala the name sculptor of mankind.

"Now Olodumare [the supreme being] once called on Obatala and told him that he would love him to assist in creating human beings that would live in the world he was about to create. This is because as he (Olodumare) said further he would not like the world he was planning to create to exist without human beings."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas</span>

The Indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise numerous different cultures. Each has its own mythologies, many of which share certain themes across cultural boundaries. In North American mythologies, common themes include a close relation to nature and animals as well as belief in a Great Spirit that is conceived of in various ways.

The Fifth World in the context of creation myths describes the present world as interpreted by several indigenous groups in the USA and Mexico. The central theme of the myth holds that there were four other cycles of creation and destruction that preceded the Fifth World. The creation story is taken largely from the mythological, cosmological, and eschatological beliefs and traditions of earlier Mesoamerican cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King of the gods</span> Leading or primary god of a polytheistic pantheon

As polytheistic religions evolve, there is a tendency for one deity to achieve preeminence as king of the gods. This tendency can parallel the growth of hierarchical systems of political power in which a monarch eventually comes to assume ultimate authority for human affairs. Other gods come to serve in a Divine Council or pantheon; such subsidiary courtier-deities are usually linked by family ties from the union of a single husband or wife, or else from an androgynous divinity who is responsible for the creation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snakes in mythology</span> Serpent that only appears in myths and legends

Snakes are a common occurrence in myths for a multitude of cultures. The Hopi people of North America viewed snakes as symbols of healing, transformation, and fertility. Snakes in Mexican folk culture tell about the fear of the snake to the pregnant women where the snake attacks the umbilical cord. The Great Goddess often had snakes as her familiars—sometimes twining around her sacred staff, as in ancient Crete—and they were worshipped as guardians of her mysteries of birth and regeneration. Although not entirely a snake, the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl, in Mesoamerican culture, particularly Mayan and Aztec, held a multitude of roles as a deity. He was viewed as a twin entity which embodied that of god and man and equally man and serpent, yet was closely associated with fertility. In ancient Aztec mythology, Quetzalcoatl was the son of the fertility earth goddess, Cihuacoatl, and cloud serpent and hunting god, Maxicoat. His roles took the form of everything from bringer of morning winds and bright daylight for healthy crops, to a sea god capable of bringing on great floods. As shown in the images there are images of the sky serpent with its tail in its mouth, it is believed to be a reverence to the sun, for which Quetzalcoatl was also closely linked.

Spider Grandmother is an important figure in the mythology, oral traditions and folklore of many Native American cultures, especially in the Southwestern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quetzalcoatl</span> Central deity in Aztec religion

Quetzalcoatl is a deity in Aztec culture and literature. Among the Aztecs, he was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood. He was one of several important gods in the Aztec pantheon, along with the gods Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli. The two other gods represented by the planet Venus are Tlaloc and Xolotl.

Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs and Debestevs, Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Dìews, Yotvingian Deivas was the primordial supreme god in the Baltic mythology, one of the most important deities together with Perkūnas, and the brother of Potrimpo. He was the god of light, sky, prosperity, wealth, ruler of gods, and the creator of the universe. Dievas is a direct successor of the Proto-Indo-European supreme sky father god *Dyēus of the root *deiwo-. Its Proto-Baltic form was *Deivas.

Chuángshén is the Chinese deity of the bedchamber. It articulates in a couple of male and female deities: Chuángmǔ and her husband, Chuánggōng.

Obassi is the supreme creator god of the people of Ekoi, who is based in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Ngewo is the supreme creator god of the people of Mende from Sierra Leone.

Yidi is the god of wine and alcohol in Chinese mythology (Daoism). He was the brewer credited with the invention of wine during the reign of Yu the Great.

References

  1. 1 2 "Blackfoot Legends (Folklore, Myths, and Traditional Siksika Indian Stories)". www.native-languages.org.
  2. 1 2 Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology: Vol. 4. Tarrytown, New York: Marshall Cavendish. 2005. p. 447. ISBN   9780761475637.
  3. ↑ "KOKYANGWUTI - the Hopi Goddess of Creation (Hopi mythology)". Godchecker - Your Guide to the Gods.
  4. 1 2 Armitage, Peter. "RELIGIOUS IDEOLOGY AMONG THE INNU OF EASTERN QUEBEC AND LABRADOR" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "ARESKOUI - the Wyandot God of Creation (Native American mythology)". Godchecker - Your Guide to the Gods.
  6. ↑ "THE TOP FIFTEEN DEITIES IN IROQUOIS MYTHOLOGY". January 28, 2013.
  7. ↑ "IOSKEHA - the Wyandot God of Creation (Native American mythology)". Godchecker - Your Guide to the Gods.

.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.