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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 9 



to return to the village or otherwise get into con- 

 tact with the living. 



Beyond serving as a means for accounting for 

 the existence of the world, the "High God," 

 ItuTtomche, was not significant. It may even turn 

 out that the belief in a "High God" is due to 

 Christian influence. There appear to be no myths 

 or rituals connected with Itukoviche. The really 

 important supernatural beings were the twin cul- 

 ture heroes, Y urlkoyiivakdi. By reference to these 

 twins the Terena explain their origin and the 

 origin of agriculture, fire, and other elements of 

 their ci:lture. The Terena have a number of 

 myths about the origin and exploits of the twin 

 culture heroes. One version expresses the origin 

 of Yiiriko'ifuvahdi as follows: 



In the beginning Yurikoiiuvnkal was just one being. 

 He lived witli his sister Lirdclicchcvfna. When his sister 

 planted a garden, Tiirikoyuvakdi stole the fruits. Livc- 

 cliechcv^na tlien became very angry and cut Yiirikoyuvakdi 

 in two, both halves later growing into the twins. 



Another version states that the twins originated 

 from a centipede : 



Turikonuvaktii was a centipede who lived with his 

 mother. He made his mother very angry because he 

 wanted to follow lier into the fields every day. One day 

 she became so angry that she cut him in two. The two 

 halves grew up into twins. 



The Terena claim that everything they possessed 

 in the past was received from the twin culture 

 heroes. One myth expresses the origin of the 

 Terena as follows: 



In the beginning there were the twins Yiirikoi/itvakdi. 

 They botli had the same name. Tbey used to walk around 

 the world setting traps to catch birds. One morning they 

 did not find a bird in the trap but only the remains of a 

 bird. As some one was stealing their birds (he twins de- 

 cided to set a watch over the trap. Tbey ordered the 

 lizard to watch the trap. But the lizard was lazy and 

 careless and did not see who was stealing the birds. When 

 the twins saw that the trap was empty, they questioned 

 the lizard who could not answer. The twins then became 

 very angry and threw the lizard against a tree, and that 

 Is why lizards live in trees even today. The twins then 

 ordered a little bird, "bemtevi," to watch the trap. Next 

 morning the twins found the trap empty and when they 

 questioned "bemtevi" about who had stolen the bird, lie 

 flew up and down over a bunch of grass and chirped, "This 

 is the door to the place from where the people came who 

 robbed your trap." Then the twins pulled out the bunch 

 of grass and found a door, and when they opened the 

 door, they found a hole in the ground full of Indians. 



The twins ordered the Indians to come out. They all 

 came out, not one remaining in the hole. The Indians 



had their mouths open, but they could not speak, so the 

 twins gave them a language and put them into a place 

 where they could live. But the Indians had no fire and 

 .shivered with cold. The twins then ordered the hare to 

 go and fetch fire which at this time was kept by Takeori. 

 Ttikeorc refused to give it to the hare and stood over the 

 fire with open legs. The hare took a bean, hivo6, and 

 threw it into the fire and when the bean burst I'akeori 

 was frightened so badly that the hare was able to steal a 

 live coal and run away. But Takcor6 pur.sued the hare 

 and when he almost caught him, the hare hid in a hollow 

 tree. Tukeor6 thrust a stick into the hole to kill the hare. 

 The hare cut his foot and let the blood run over the stick. 

 When Takcori saw the blood he believed that tlie hare was 

 dead and went away. The hare then picked up the live 

 coal, ran to the Indians and threw the coal into a field 

 which caught on fire. The Indians now had fire and 

 were warm. 



The Indians were hungry but tliey had no tools and did 

 not know how to obtain food. The twins then gave the 

 Indians all their tools. To the men Yi'irikoyuvakdi gave 

 the ax, povdoti; the digging stick, ilomcH; the knife, piri- 

 tnu; the sickle, yopilokdti; the war club, puhi'oi; and the 

 bow, slickii; arrows, shurni; and the spear, suik6. To 

 the women the twins gave the sitindle, hopde. Yurikoyii- 

 I'akdi then taught the Indians how to hunt, fish, and grow 

 crops. 



The culture hero legends provide a mythical 

 charter for the Terena way of life. The import- 

 ance of the earth is stressed. The Indians came 

 out of the earth. Agriculture was a male occu- 

 pation while women spun cotton. The culture hero 

 gave them language, fire, and economic techniques. 

 The cunning necessary to survive in the struggle 

 of life is stressed in the story of the hare stealing 

 fire. The twins, Yiirikoyuvakdi, were not the 

 creators of the world of animals and men. They 

 were benevolent beings who freed the Indians and 

 taught them the arts of social life. 



On the other hand, the Terena have evil spirits 

 in their pantheon of supernatural beings, such as 

 Vaiwnu, Voropi, and Hihiaiu/ne. It is curious to 

 note that these mythical monsters are the causes 

 of heavy rains and floods, physical phenomena 

 which occur in the Chaco and which were a real 

 danger to the Terena. Referring to a flood, 

 iooydneti, we have the following story: 



It rained without stopping. It was Vanonu speaking 

 from the sky, it was Vunonu coming down. The rain cov- 

 ered the field, water was overflowing everywliere. Tlien 

 there was a shaman who began to sing and shake his 

 gourd rattle, itdaka. If Va7i6nu came to the ground every- 

 thing would be covered with water. The shaman sang 

 telling Vaiv'inu to go back into the sky. Then Vandnu 

 spoke like thunder, the Indians heard Vandnu's voice, but 

 they could not understand him. Vanoiiu was evil and was 



