The Tupi-Guarani mythology is the set of narratives about the gods and spirits of the differentTupi-Guarani peoples, ancient and current. Together with the cosmogonies, anthropogonies and rituals, they form part of the religion of these peoples.
TheGuarani people live in the south-central part ofSouth America, especially inParaguay and parts of the surrounding areas ofArgentina,Brazil, andBolivia. TheTupi people were one of the most numerouspeoples indigenous to Brazil, occupying largely the Atlantic coast ofBrazil and In the Amazon where there are Tupi towns with no connection to the outside, heavily mixing with the Portuguese colonizers.
There exist no written records of the ancient myths and legends associated with the Guarani people. TheGuarani language was not a writtenlanguage until modern times, so their religious beliefs have largely been passed down through word of mouth. As such, accounts of the variousgods and related myths and legends can vary from one locale to the next, and the regional differences may be so extreme as to completely redefine the role a specific deity plays in the Guarani belief system.
Although many of the indigenous Guarani people have been assimilated into modern society and their belief system altered or replaced byChristianity (due in large part to the work ofJesuitmissionaries in the 16th century), several of the core beliefs are still active in many rural areas in the Guarani region. As a result, the myths and legends continue to evolve to this day.
The primary figure in most Guaranicreation legends isTupã, the supreme god of allcreation. With the help of themoon goddessArasy, Tupã descended upon theEarth in a location specified as ahill in the region ofAreguá, and from that location created all that is found upon the face of the earth, including theocean,forests, and theanimals. It is also said that thestars were placed in thesky at this point.[1]
Tupã then createdhumanity (according to most Guarani myths, the Guarani were naturally the firstrace ofpeople to be made, with every other civilization being born from it) in an elaborate ceremony, formingclay statues of man and woman with a mixture of various elements from nature. After breathinglife into the human forms, he left them with the spirits of good and evil and departed.[1]
The original humans created by Tupã were Rupave and Sypave, whose names mean "Father of the people" and "Mother of the people", respectively. The pair had three sons and a large but unspecified number of daughters. The first of their sons wasTumé Arandú, considered to be the wisest of men and the greatprophet of the Guarani people. Second of their sons was Marangatú, a benevolent and generous leader of his people, and father ofKerana, the mother of the seven legendary monsters of Guarani myth (see below). Their third son was Japeusá, who was from birth considered a liar, a thief and a trickster, always doing things backwards to confuse people and take advantage of them. He eventually committedsuicide, drowning himself in thewater, but he was resurrected as acrab, and since then all crabs are cursed to walk backwards much as Japeusá did.
Among the daughters of the Rupave and Supave was Porâsý, notable for sacrificing her own life in order to rid the world of one of the seven legendary monsters, diminishing their power (and thus the power of evil as a whole).
Several of the first humans were considered to have ascended upon their deaths and become minor deities.
Kerana, the beautiful daughter of Marangatu, was captured by the personification or spirit of evil calledTau. Together the two had seven sons who were cursed of the high goddess Arasy, and all but one were born as hideousmonsters. The seven are considered primary figures in Guaranimythology, and while several of the lesser gods or even the original humans are forgotten in the verbal tradition of some areas, these seven were generally maintained in the legends. Some of them are even believed in down to modern times in some rural areas. The seven sons of Tau and Kerana are, in order of their births:
