Heeri
Baniwa · deity · Baniwa traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Heeri is the personified Sun in Baniwa cosmology, the subject of a dedicated body of Hohodene knowledge recorded by the Baniwa authors Francisco and Francy Fontes Baniwa; the ordinary Baniwa word for the sun is Kamoi. As the Sun he carries daylight across the finished world and orders the passage of time. Sources differ on his kinship: the name Eeri, borne by the Sun, is in several narrations that of the younger brother of Nhiãperikuli whose death brought mortality, so that some tellers fold the Sun into the family of the primordial brothers while others keep the celestial body distinct from the ill-fated sibling.
Domains
- solar cycle
Powers
- carries daylight and measures time across the sky
Relations
- sibling: NhiãperikuliCounted among the brothers of the creator in traditions that identify Heeri with Eeri.Robin M. Wright, Cosmos, Self, and History in Baniwa Religion (1998). (secondary)
Sources
- Heeri is the personified Sun of the Baniwa; the everyday Baniwa word for the sun is Kamoi.: Francy Fontes Baniwa & Francisco Fontes Baniwa, Heeri: o Sol Baniwa (Selvagem ciclo de estudos / LEETRA, 2024). (primary)
- In some Baniwa traditions the name Eeri, shared with the Sun, belongs to the younger brother of Nhiãperikuli.: Robin M. Wright, Cosmos, Self, and History in Baniwa Religion (University of Texas Press, 1998). (secondary)