Life-Giver
Apache · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Supreme creator classed 'deity'. Ussen/Yusn is the common Chiricahua/Mescalero rendering; Opler records the descriptive Chiricahua name Bik'egu'indáán ('Life-Giver'). Female counterpart is White Painted Woman.
Domains
- creation
- life
Powers
- give life to all beings
- ordain the supernatural powers and ceremonies
Epithets
- Ussen The Life-Giver; the supreme creator and source of power of the ApacheMorris Opler, An Apache Life-Way (secondary)
Relations
- companion: White Painted WomanSupreme creator (Life-Giver) whose female counterpart is the creator-mother White Painted Woman.M.E. Opler, An Apache Life-Way (1941); Ussen (Life-Giver) and his female counterpart White Painted Woman in Chiricahua/Mescalero cosmology (secondary)
Sources
- Ussen / Yusn (Chiricahua Bik'egu'indáán), the Life-Giver, is the supreme creator-deity of the Apache and source of all life and ceremonial power.: Morris E. Opler, 'An Apache Life-Way' (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1941). (ethnography); Morris E. Opler, 'Myths and Tales of the Chiricahua Apache Indians' (1942). (ethnography)