The most famous of all South American high gods is the
Andean deity Viracocha. Several etymologies have been pro-
posed to explain the meaning of his name, among them “sea
of grease” (as a rich source of life) and “lord of all created
things.” In any case the belief in a high creator god among
the Andean peoples probably goes back to early prehistoric
times. It has been suggested that Viracocha is none other
than the same world creator and culture hero found in the
mythology of many tribes from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.
Apparently, the ancient high god was obscured for a time by
his conflation with the Inca sun god, but later the Inca were
obliged to revert to the ancient high god of archaic mytholo-
gies in order to secure the support of their allies when Cuzco
was threatened by other peoples. Another important Andean
high god is Illapa, lord of rain, lightning, and thunder. As
do some other Andean deities, Illapa hierophanically pres-
ents himself in trinitarian form comprising Illapa the Father,
Illapa the Elder Son (or Brother), and Illapa the Younger Son
(or Brother). Illapa’s name is related to the Quechua
word illa, meaning both “protective spirit” and “light” or
“lightning.”
While Illapa is a god of the Andean highlands, Con and
Pachacámac belong to the Peruvian coast. Con is said to have
created the sky, the sun, the moon, the earth with all its ani-
mals, the Indians, and the fish by means of his thought and
breath. After having made everything, he ascended into the
sky. Con was followed later by a more powerful god called
Pachacámac (“world maker,” or “the god who gives orders”).
ORIGINS OF PLANTS AND CULTURE. The introduction of
seeds for agriculture and the origins of certain staple plants
and their fruits are recounted as etiological motifs in many
South American myths. In Peru, several sacred personages of
legendary times are credited with the creation of produce.
According to an ancient story, the god Pachacámac trans-
formed the sacrificed body of a divine being into the basic
food plants of the Andean peoples.
In the traditions of the Ge-speaking Apinagé, Kayapó,
Craho, and Xerenté, among the tribes of the Tropical Forest,
as well as among the Mataco of the Gran Chaco, many fruits
of the earth came from the heavens as gifts brought by Star
Woman for her lover and his people. That is the way the
Apinagé first came to know of sweet potatoes and yams and
learned to plant maize and make maize cakes. The Kayapó
obtained manioc, sweet potatoes, yams, and bananas
through the good offices of Sky Woman, who was the daugh-
ter of Rain. Maize, however, was revealed by a little mouse
who showed it to an old woman. Among the Waiwai it is
said that an old woman allowed herself to be burned, and
from her charred bones sprouted cassava plants of the type
still in use today. In a Witóto myth an old woman who was
ascending the sky in pursuit of a handsome youth fell down,
transforming herself into the bitter yuca, while the young
man became the sun.
In many tribal societies there are traditional stories
teaching how artifacts and social intitutions first came into
being. Among the Ayoré of western Paraguay and eastern Bo-
livia, who speak a language of the Zamuco family, there is
an origin myth (or sometimes several) for every single object,
whether natural or manmade. According to the Ayoré, most
things originated through the transformation of an ancestor.
In many cases, however, cultural objects were in the begin-
ning owned by the ancestor who, at a certain point, gave
them to humankind.ORIGINS OF FIRE. Fire, the natural element required to
transform the raw into the cooked, separates humans from
animals and establishes the basis of culture; as such, it is the
subject of many mythic stories, which can be broadly divided
into myths about the origin of fire and myths about the ori-
gin of the techniques for fire-making. Most stories of the for-
mer group recount how, in the times of the beginnings, hu-
mans first obtained fire, either as a gift from a god or as an
element stolen by a culture hero.The greatest variety of myths about fire among South
American societies probably occurs in the traditional oral lit-
erature of the Mataco. According to one of these stories,
Raven was the owner of fire, and Toad, in an unsuccessful
attempt to steal it, almost extinguished it. But Tokhuah, the
trickster, did succeed in getting it, and, when chased away,
waved his burning stick in all directions. The branches of all
the species of trees that caught fire are now gathered to make
drills for producing fire by friction. In another Mataco myth,
Vulture, the guardian of fire, flapped his huge wings from
time to time to fan the live coals. If someone attempted to
take a burning piece of wood, however little, Vulture would
flutter his wings with such force that the fire would flare up
and the would-be thief would be burned to ashes. But ac-
cording to the most widely reported version of the Mataco
myth, the owner of the fire is Jaguar. In this story, Jaguar
loses his fire to Rabbit, who puts live coals under his chin
and runs away. Later Rabbit throws the embers in a meadow
and the world begins to burn. People were thus able to ob-
tain fire and to cook their meals, but Jaguar had to learn how
to hunt and to eat his game raw. Then Tokhuah put the spir-
it of fire into the wood of the sunchu tree, which the Mataco
use to make their fire-drills.ORIGINS OF DEATH. Several types of myths about the origin
of death have been noted among South American tribes. One
of these may be called the “waxing and waning moon” type.
The Ayoré of the Gran Chaco say that instead of following
Moon, who waxes again after waning into nothing, their an-
cestor followed Tapir, who dies and never rises again.The Warao of the Orinoco delta have several traditional
stories representing different types of myth about the origins
of death. One type concerns the “serpent and his cast off
skin.” It says that people lived happily on earth until one of
them fell ill and died. He was buried, and the Master of the
Palm-Leaf Fiber said that they should wail for their dead.
The snakes immediately cried and shed their skins. That is
why snakes do not die, but people do.8590 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: MYTHIC THEMES