TUPI-GUARANI GODS
Tupa
Called “The Spirit of Thunder”, Tupã is the great creator of the skies, land and seas, as well as the animal and plant world. In addition to teaching the men agriculture, handicrafts and hunting, he gave the shamans knowledge of medicinal plants and magical healing rituals.
jaci
She is the moon goddess and guardian of the night. Protector of lovers and reproduction, one of her roles is to awaken longing in the hearts of warriors and hunters, hastening their return to their wives. Daughter of Tupã, Jaci is the sister-wife of Guaraci, the sun god.
Guaraci
Son of Tupã, the Sun god helped his father in the creation of all living beings. Brother-husband of Jaci, the moon goddess, Guaraci is the guardian of creatures during the day. In the passage from night to day – the encounter between Jaci and Guaraci –, the wives ask for protection for their husbands who go hunting.
Ceuci
Protector of crops and indigenous dwellings, Ceuci was compared by the Catholic settlers to the Virgin Mary, for having given birth in a miraculous way: her son, Jurupari – spirit guide and guardian –, was born from the fruit of the cucura-purumã (tree that represents the good and evil in Tupi mythology).
anhangá
Tupã’s enemy, Anhangá is the god of the infernal regions, a wandering spirit who can take the form of various animals in the jungle. Despite being considered protector of animals and hunters, he is associated with evil. If he appears to someone, it is a sign of disgrace and bad omen.
Sume
Responsible for maintaining the laws and rules, Sumé also brought knowledge such as cassava cooking and its applications. Due to the Indians’ disobedience, Sumé left one day – he left walking over the Atlantic Ocean, promising to return to discipline the Indians.
DEITIES OF OTHER TRIBES
In addition to the Tupi and Guarani – two of the most important groups –, Yanomami, Macaws and dozens of other peoples left a mythological legacy that remains alive today among the more than 800,000 Brazilian indigenous people.
Akuanduba
It is a deity of the Arara Indians, from the Xingu basin, in Pará. Rigorous, Akuanduba played his flute to bring order to the world. One day, because of the disobedience of human beings, they were thrown into the water. The few survivors had to learn from scratch how to continue life.
Yorixiriamori
He is a character in the myth of the “singing tree” of the Yanomami. With his beautiful singing, Yorixiriamori enchanted women, which ended up arousing envy in men, who tried to kill him. The god fled in the form of a bird, and the singing tree disappeared from the Earth.
Yebá Bëló
The “woman who appeared out of nowhere” is the main figure in the Indian creation myth. desanas, from the top of the Rio Negro (Brazil-Colombia border). From her illuminated quartz abode, Yebá Bëló created the entire Universe – human beings emerge from the ipadu (coca leaf) that she chewed.
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wanadi
God of the Iecuanas, people of the Brazil-Venezuela border, Wanadi created three beings to generate the world. However, the first two made a mistake and ended up creating a deformed creature, which represents the bad side of life (hunger, disease, death). It fell to the third being, then, to successfully complete the act of creation.
THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF EVERYTHING
For the Arauetés, from the middle Xingu (PA), an indignant husband created the world
1. Saddened by an insult from his wife, the god Aranãmi begins to sing and play his rattle. With that, he creates the earthly ground and three more levels: two celestial and one underground, with a river and its islands.
two. Some men ascend to the first celestial level and become divine beings. Others rise even higher, going to live in the second layer, the Red Sky.
3. The ground then breaks. The men fall into the underground river and almost all of them are devoured by a giant piranha and alligator. Those who escape are living on the islands.
4. When an inhabitant of the islands dies, his soul is divided into two spirits: one wanders the earth for a certain time; the other is in the first celestial layer, in contact with the gods.
5. According to the myth, one day the celestial layer will break. From then on, human and divine beings will be mixed and there will be no difference between the world of the dead and the world of the living.