Sera

Sera is the male survivor of the great flood in the central Amis creation myth. Fleeing the rising waters with his sister Nakaw in a wooden mortar, he is carried to the summit of Mount Cilangasan, the only land left above the flood. With no other people remaining, the two marry; their first offspring are snakes, frogs, lizards and other malformed creatures, until the sun teaches them a corrective rite, after which they bear true human children who become the ancestors of the Amis. Names of the siblings vary between village traditions, but the pattern of flood, sibling marriage, monstrous first births and eventual proper human descent is constant across the Amis and neighbouring Formosan peoples.

Domains

• ancestry

Powers

• survives the great flood

Relations

• sibling: NakawBrother and sister, the sole flood survivors.'Rebirth after the Flood', Indigenous Sight (secondary)
• spouse: NakawMarry after the flood to repeople the world.Ho Ting-jui, A Comparative Study of Myths and Legends of Formosan Aborigines (1971) (secondary)
• ally: CidalThe sun instructs the pair in the rite that yields human children.Ho Ting-jui, A Comparative Study of Myths and Legends of Formosan Aborigines (1971) (secondary)

Sources

• Sera and his sister Nakaw survive a great flood in a wooden mortar, come ashore on Mount Cilangasan, marry, and become ancestors of the Amis.: 'Rebirth after the Flood', Indigenous Sight (Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation, Taiwan) (secondary); Ho Ting-jui, A Comparative Study of Myths and Legends of Formosan Aborigines (1971) (secondary)