Our imagination and our culture are permeated by mythologies from many places: be it Christian, Roman or Greek. But, unfortunately, we know little or nothing about Tupi-Guarani mythology .

This text has the objective of bringing you a little of this system, which is very rich and has its history told by our ancestors.

1 - Predominant mythologies throughout time

Christian

Since ancient times, the worldview that has come down to us has been Eurocentric. Let's take Christian mythology as an example. It assumes that God is the supreme being, creator of the heavens and the earth.

From him, everything was created: day and night, plants, animals, human beings. And so, the constitution of cities and peoples was to nurture the belief in the creator God and spread this to other groups.

That is, a series of stories were compiled as a written record of a Christian view. This compilation is the Bible.

Greek

Greek mythology also focuses on the figure of Zeus as the creator, but in this belief, there are other gods, each as guardian of some element.

For example, Poseidon is the king of the seas and oceans, Hades is the god of the dead and of hell, and Athena is the goddess of wisdom, arts and war.

Moreover, according to this view, the gods are anthropomorphic. That is, they are immortal, but possess human characteristics and have feelings just like us. They are wise, yet can be angry and make judgments unrelated to justice.

2 - The Tupi-Guarani ethnic group

When Pedro Álvares Cabral and his overseas fleet landed in Brazil, they thought they had reached the Indies, their final destination. It was then that they discovered they had entered a different, "primitive" land, according to the accounts of Pero Vaz de Caminha.

The Tupis occupied not only what we now call Brazilian territory, but a large part of the east coast.

The Tupi had many branches (linguistic trunks) derived from the natural evolution of man. Several ethnic groups had similarities in language, customs and also religious beliefs.

That is, as there were many groups sharing a common belief, the possibility of there being more than one version is great. Therefore, we will focus on the mythology of the Tupi-Guarani language family.

3 - Tupi-Guarani mythology and the creation myth

As in many mythologies, certain episodes of creation are very similar And the Guarani Tupi legend about the creation of the world is no exception.

In the beginning it was chaos. There was nothing, not even the Earth. But there was a generating energy. It was a female being named Jasuka who created Nhanderuvuçu or Our Eternal Grandfather. He wore a diadem, from which Ñande Jari or Our Grandmother arises.

Nhanderuvuçu then created the earth and the heavens from Jasuka, who was said to have flowers in her breasts. On the earth, there were four cardinal points and at these points, four elements, plus the element in the center. These points would be in the shape of a cross.

Moreover, each point was an abode for a respective deity: in the east, there is the sacred fire; in the north, the mist; in the west, there were the waters, and in the south, the generating power.

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The first humans

At one point, there was a tension between Our Eternal Grandfather and Our Grandmother, because she did not do him a favor, and this affected him so much that he decided to destroy his creation. To calm him down, Our Grandmother started a chant with a percussion instrument called tukuapu.

Our Grandfather decided to imitate his movement, playing a Porongo and in this, the first man was generated. He also played a taquara in a sacred basket, which makes a sound similar to the tukuapu - they are made of the same material, bamboo - and generated the first woman.

The descendants

From these creators, we have Our Father of All, who was responsible for dividing the tribes and placing mountains, rivers and forests between them. He also created the ritualistic tobacco and the sacred flute of the Tupi, an instrument used until today in rituals.

In addition, there is Our Mother. It is she who collects the souls up to the seven heavens or to the house of darkness. She is also the mother of twins Guaraci and Jaci.

The Twins

There are several legends that tell the origin and history of Guaraci and Jaci. Guaraci is the sun deity. He has the mission to take care of the living beings during the day, to provide the heat and light of the sun.

Legend has it that Guaraci was tired of always doing these tasks and went to sleep. When he closed his eyes, darkness took over the earth. So that the sky would be illuminated, Jaci was designated as the god of the moon.

Jaci is the goddess protector of the moon, plants, and reproduction. It is said that in some rituals, the indigenous women pray to Jaci so that she protects their husbands who go out to hunt and wage war. Upon hearing these prayers, she sees to it that the indigenous people miss them and return to their families.

Moreover, there is the meeting of the twins, which is when the day ends and night begins. In this meeting, Guaraci ended up being enchanted by Jaci's beauty. But whenever the day ended, he would sleep and could no longer see her, so he asked Tupã to create Rudá, the messenger and god of love. Rudá can walk in the light as well as in the dark, so the union became possible.

4 - Tupã

We mentioned Tupã, but had not yet talked about its history. Its origin also has several sources. Some say that he and Nhanderuvuçu are the same entity, others that he was created, and there is also a legend that shows Tupã as being Jaci's husband.

Anyway, Tupã is the god of creation, of thunder and light. He controls the seas and his voice echoes through the storms. He created the first humans on top of a hill where today is Areguá, a city near Asunción, Paraguay. He also asked humans to reproduce and live in harmony.

5 - Other Gods

The Tupi-Guarani pantheon of gods is also formed by Caramuru, the dragon god, who controls the ocean waves; Caupé, the goddess of beauty; Anhum, the god of music who played the Sacro Taré, an instrument created by the gods. In addition, we have Anhangá, the protector of the forests. His mission was to protect the animals from hunters.

Concluding Remarks

As we have seen, Tupi-Guarani mythology is very comprehensive. Because it has an oral tradition, its legends have several versions, and all of them, in some way, have similarities with other religions regarding the origin of living things.

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