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List of Native American deities, sortable by name of tribe or name of deity.
Tribe or group | Deity or spirit | Notes |
---|---|---|
Abenaki | Azeban | Trickster |
Gluskab | Kind protector of humanity | |
Malsumis | Cruel, evil god | |
Pamola | Bird spirit; causes cold weather | |
Tabaldak | The creator | |
Blackfoot | Apistotookii | Creator [1] |
Napi | Trickster [1] | |
Haida | Ta'xet | God of violent death [2] |
Tia | Goddess of peaceful death [2] | |
Ho-Chunk | Red Horn | 'He Who Wears (Human) Faces on His Ears' |
Hopi | Aholi | A kachina |
Angwusnasomtaka | Crow Mother, a kachina | |
Kokopelli | Fertility, flute player, a kachina | |
Kokyangwuti | Creation, Spider grandmother [3] | |
Muyingwa | Germination of seeds, a kachina | |
Taiowa | Sun spirit, creator | |
Innu | Kanipinikassikueu | Provider of caribou [4] |
Matshishkapeu | Spirit of the anus [4] | |
Inuit | Igaluk | Lunar deity |
Nanook | Master of bears | |
Nerrivik | Sea mother and food provider | |
Pinga | Goddess of the hunt, fertility, and medicine | |
Sedna | Sea goddess, ruler of the underworld | |
Torngasoak | Sky god | |
Iroquois | Adekagagwaa | Summer |
Gaoh | Wind god | |
Gendenwitha | Maiden, transformed into Morning Star by Dawn. | |
Gohone | Winter | |
Hahgwehdaetgan | God of evil. Twin of Hahgwehdiyu. | |
Hahgwehdiyu | Creator; god of goodness and light. Twin of Hahgwehdaetgan. | |
Onatha | Fertility | |
Klamath | Llao | God of the underworld |
Kwakiutl | Kewkwaxa'we | Raven spirit |
Lakota | Whope | Peace |
Wi | Solar spirit, father of Whope | |
Etu | Personification of time | |
Mi'kmaq | Niskam | The sun; architect |
Miwok | Coyote | Trickster |
Narragansett | Cautantowwit | Creator |
Navajo | Asdzą́ą́ Nádleehé | Creation deity, changing woman |
Bikʼeh Hózhǫ́ | Personification of speech | |
Haashchʼéé Oołtʼohí | Deity of the hunt | |
Haashchʼééłtiʼí | The Talking god, god of the dawn and the east | |
Hashchʼéoghan | The House-god, god of evening and the west | |
Niltsi | Wind god | |
Tó Neinilii | 'Water sprinkler', rain god | |
Jóhonaaʼéí | Sun | |
Yoołgai Asdzą́ą́ | 'White-shell woman', lunar deity | |
Mą’ii | Coyote trickster god | |
Black God | Creator of the stars, god of fire | |
See also Diné Bahaneʼ | ||
Pawnee | Pah | Lunar deity |
Shakuru | Solar deity | |
Tirawa | Creator | |
Salish | Amotken | Supreme deity |
Seneca | Eagentci | Sky goddess |
Hagones | Trickster | |
Hawenniyo | A fertility god | |
Kaakvha | Solar deity | |
Sioux | Haokah | Sacred clown |
Anpao | Spirit with two faces that represents the dawn | |
Snohomish | Dohkwibuhch | Creator |
Taíno | Yaya (Hayah) | Supreme God/Great Spirit |
Yaya'al/Yayael (YasHayah) | The son of Yaya (Hayah) | |
Atabey (goddess) | Mother goddess of fresh water and fertility. Female counterpart of the god Yúcahu | |
Yúcahu | The masculine spirit of fertility in Taíno mythology along with his mother Atabey who was his feminine counterpart | |
Guabancex | The top Storm Goddess; the Lady of the Winds who also deals out earthquakes and other such disasters of nature. | |
Juracán | The zemi or deity of chaos and disorder believed to control the weather, particularly hurricanes. | |
Guatauva | The god of thunder and lightning who is also responsible for rallying the other storm gods. | |
Coatrisquie | The torrential downpour Goddess, the terrible Taíno storm servant of Guabancex and side-kick of thunder God Guatauva. | |
Bayamanaco | Old man fire; the Taíno spirit of Cohoba and guardian of the secrets of sweet potato bread. | |
Boinayel | God of the sun and of good weather; Marohu's twin brother. | |
Márohu | God of the moon and of rain, rainstorms, and floods; Boinayel's twin brother. | |
Maketaori Guayaba | The god of Coaybay or Coabey, the land of the dead. | |
Opiyel Guabiron | A dog-shaped god that watched over the dead; often associated with the Greek Cerberus. | |
Tongva | Chinigchinix | Mythological figure of the Mission Indians |
Wyandot | Airesekui | Creation [5] |
Heng | Storm god [6] | |
Iosheka | Creation [7] |
Tribe or group | Deity or spirit | Notes |
---|---|---|
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 Quyllur | Goddess 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. |
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.
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 became 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".
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 the Inuit religion, 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.
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 human 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."
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. As anthropologists note, their great creation myths and sacred oral tradition in whole are comparable to the Christian Bible and scriptures of other major religions.
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.
As polytheistic systems 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.
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.
Lithuanian Dievas, Latvian Dievs and Debestēvs ("Sky-Father"), Latgalian Dīvs, Old Prussian Diews, 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.
A vegetation deity is a nature deity whose disappearance and reappearance, or life, death and rebirth, embodies the growth cycle of plants. In nature worship, the deity can be a god or goddess with the ability to regenerate itself. A vegetation deity is often a fertility deity. The deity typically undergoes dismemberment, scattering, and reintegration, as narrated in a myth or reenacted by a religious ritual. The cyclical pattern is given theological significance on themes such as immortality, resurrection, and reincarnation. Vegetation myths have structural resemblances to certain creation myths in which parts of a primordial being's body generate aspects of the cosmos, such as the Norse myth of Ymir.
Chuángshén is the Chinese deity of the bedchamber. It articulates in a couple of male and female deities: Chuángmǔ and her husband, Chuánggōng.
Libanza is a legendary figure in Boloki and Upoto mythologies. In Boloki mythology, Libanza is a heroic character who is depicted as the first man, while in Upoto mythology, Libanza is a supreme god worshipped for creating the universe.
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.