Lenca mythology is the set of religious and mythological beliefs of the Lenca people from Honduras and El Salvador, before and after the conquest of America. Little of these beliefs have been documented, due to colonization and the adoption of the Catholic faith after the 16th century.
Myths
Creation of man
According to the original Lenca polytheistic religion, the creation of man is thanks to a deity known as "Maraguana", she brought the dust of the stars to earth, and when she arrived there she collected the dry grains of corn and cocoa beans, and in a grinding stone and a clay pot, he molded a creature different from the others on earth created by the gods, this endowed it with consciousness and intelligence and thus made the first human being. The place called "Ti Ketau Antawinikil" Some time later this deity created another human known as "Ti wanatuku", he was born from an egg, which was hatched in a bird's nest on the head of the first human being. Both are considered the ancestors of modern humans.
Comizahual
The legend of the Comizahual (or Comizahuatl) speaks of a matriarch that is said to have appeared around more than two hundred years before the conquest of America, possibly at the end of the 13th century, which is represented with a zoomorphic figure similar to a jaguar and in her human form she is represented as a woman with white skin and hair, she is described as a skilled person as a warrior and wise as a leader. This woman guided and taught some new knowledge about agriculture and warfare to the Lencas that they began to implement during the following years during the post classic mesoamerican period. Fulfilled his mission, he distributed the lands among three men according to some versions these were his sons, in others his brothers, to whom he left instructions for the treatment of his vassals, after that, the matriarch disappeared.
Within those described about the Comizahual physique, some interpreted that the description was a white person, who arrived on the continent, being a pre-Columbian contact between Europeans and Americans before the Spanish arrival, similar to that of the Viking explorers with the natives of what today it is Canada, or the theory of Roman contact with Mesoamerica. Although there is little evidence of the arrival of Europeans in what is modern day Central america before Columbus. Most academics have said that it is believed that it could be the interpretation of a person with albinism.
Deities
The Lenca religion, similar to those of the rest of the Mesoamerican area, was polytheistic and had countless deities in its pantheon of gods, however very few detailed records survived about all of them as well as the indigenous Lenca faith due to loss of the oral tradition or the lack of documentation of its traditions by chroniclers, however, thanks to studies of the Lenca deities, there is still a record.
Itanipuca
Considered to be the main deity of the Lenca people, he was known as "the great father", related to the sky and the movement of the stars possibly also related to astronomy, for the Mesoamerican peoples this element was important within their cosmology, due to this, it is considered the main Lenca deity. Everything indicates that Itanipuica was the main god or sky deity of the Lenca people, It could have parallelism with other Mesoamerican deities such as itzamna or Tezcatlipoca.
Ilanguipuca
Known as the "Great Mother", couple of Itanipuca, she is related to the land, its forests, rivers, and lakes, she is also related with the fertility of the crops, she along with Itanipuca are the creators of the world. This goddess can be seen as a type of mother goddess, or a fertility goddess.
Icelaca
He was another important deity because he was related to the concept of time, which is why the ancient Lencas referred to him as “the lord of time” because he was the cause of the change of the seasons over time during the years. He was also related to winds and meteorological phenomena, the existence of events such as hurricanes and electrical storms was attributed to him. This deity could have some few similar elements with the Mayan god Chaac or the Mexica Tláloc.
This is certainly the most documented deity of the Lenca people since the one mentioned by the Spanish chronicler Diego García de Palacio, in his Description of the Province of Guatemala of 1576, relates that in Sesori he observed how 4 young men of about twelve years old were circumcised. , whose blood was placed on a representation of this deity that had a round shape with two faces full of eyes (to see the past and the future), and to which deer, chickens and rabbits were also sacrificed; to which the chronicler Antonio de Herrera adds that dogs that do not bark and turkeys were also sacrificed to him, and blood, tongue and ears were offered in self-sacrifice, and that the representation of the deity was a large three-pointed stone with a deformed face in each one.
Likewise, Anne Chapman in her book The Children of Copal and the Candela of 1992, mentions that some indigenous people from the village of Manazapa (Honduran department of Intibucá) told her that they had a two-faced deity who saw the past, present and future, to which they performed repairs (domestic and agrarian rites), and they cut people's throats and watered the representation of the deity with their blood while they played drums (decorated with quetzal feathers) and snails.
According to the Salvadoran writer María de Baratta in her work Cuzcatlán Tífico of 1951, based on what Aquilino Argueta collected from the indigenous elders of Torola, under the deity of rain (who sometimes manifested as a snake) there were spirits or geniuses who personified the hills, who were asked for a good rain, and to whom a priest (whose title was misilán) sacrificed turkeys, and then collected the blood of the animal in a glass or jug and then poured it over a lagoon that there was before in Torola.
Managuara
Very little is known about this deity because we do not have enough sources that speak in more detail about him but he must appear mentioned in some oral literature and because of this Its main role is still unknown, but it is noted that it was representative of knowledge. It is the deity responsible for the creation of Man, thus endowing him with consciousness. It could have parallels with the Mayan Kukulkan or Mexica Quetzalcoatl.
See also
References
- "F. Coluccio — Diccionario del folklore americano, I: A—D", 1955–56, De Gruyter, pp. 362–364, 1956-12-31, doi:10.1515/9783112315088-049 (inactive 1 November 2024), ISBN 9783112303931, retrieved 2022-08-15
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