Etsa
Achuar · deity · Achuar traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Etsa is at once the sun and the mythic hunter-hero of the Achuar. The founding narrative tells how the cannibal ogre Iwia killed Etsa's parents and reared the boy to hunt birds for his table, blowing him back to life each night; grown and enlightened to his captivity, Etsa tricks the ogre, kills him and disgorges from him the birds of the forest, which fly free and repopulate the world. As master of game he is the patron of male hunting: hunters sing anent to him and observe the reciprocity he demands, for the animals are his and are taken only by his leave. His daily transit across the sky orders time, and he stands opposite his brother Nantu, the moon, in the ordering of the heavens.
Domains
- sun
- hunting
- game animals
Powers
- governs the birds and game of the forest
- destroyed the man-eating ogre Iwia
- crosses the sky as the sun
Epithets
- Etsa, apachuru — Etsa, our forefatherSiro Pellizzaro, Etsa (Mundo Shuar, 1978) (secondary)
Relations
- sibling: NantuSun and Moon are paired as brothers in Jivaroan cosmology.Rafael Karsten, The Head-Hunters of Western Amazonas (1935) (secondary)
- enemy: IwiaEtsa is the hero who overthrows the ogre Iwia.Siro Pellizzaro, Etsa: defensor del pueblo shuar (Mundo Shuar, 1978) (secondary)
Sources
- Etsa is the Sun and the primordial hunter who masters the game of the forest and defeated the ogre Iwia.: Philippe Descola, The Spears of Twilight (The New Press, 1996) (secondary); Siro Pellizzaro, Etsa: defensor del pueblo shuar (Mundo Shuar, 1978) (secondary)