Sórkura, elder of the primordial devils
Sórkura (Cabécar; Sòrkula in Bribri) is the eldest and most powerful shaman of the Sòrbulu, the cruel race of devils who were the first beings of the world. He is the paternal grandfather of the creator Sibö, through his son Sibökõmõ, and he is Sibö's chief antagonist in the creation epic. Determined to kill the boy and rule the world himself, Sórkura makes repeated attempts on Sibö's life; in the end Sibö seizes one of the old man's spears and kills him at a single throw. Sibö then assumes Sórkura's shape, sounds his conch to summon the other devils, and persuades them to dismember and roast the corpse before revealing himself and scattering the pieces across the world, where each fragment becomes a sign of ill omen. Sórkura thus marks the violent end of the barren primordial order and the threshold of Sibö's fertile creation.
Domains
- primordial sorcery
Powers
- to work the destructive sorcery of the first world
Epithets
- Sòrbulu wékMaría Eugenia Bozzoli de Wille, El nacimiento y la muerte entre los bribris (San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, 1979). (secondary)
Relations
- enemy: Sibö, the creator culture-heroSórkura is the traditional adversary of his own grandson Sibö, plotting to kill the boy and reign over the world, until Sibö kills him instead.Enrique Margery Peña, 'Sibö (relato mitológico cabécar)', Estudios de Lingüística Chibcha, XIV (1995), pp. 31–39. (secondary)
- subordinate to: The Sòrbulu, the primordial devil-raceSórkura is the named eldest member and chief of the Sòrbulu devil-race to which he belongs.María Eugenia Bozzoli de Wille, El nacimiento y la muerte entre los bribris (San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, 1979). (secondary)
Sources
- Sórkura (Bribri Sòrkula) is the eldest and most powerful of the primordial Sòrbulu devils and the paternal grandfather of Sibö, whom he tries to kill and by whom he is in turn slain, dismembered, and scattered as evil omens.: Enrique Margery Peña, 'Sibö (relato mitológico cabécar)', Estudios de Lingüística Chibcha, XIV (1995), pp. 31–39. (secondary); María Eugenia Bozzoli de Wille, El nacimiento y la muerte entre los bribris (San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, 1979). (secondary)