Eschetewuarha
Chamacoco · deity · Chamacoco traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Eschetewuarha is the great mother goddess of the Chamacoco, styled Mistress of the World and mother of the clouds. The older ethnography describes her as the female principle who governs the sky, sends the rains, and sustains all living things, receiving the offerings of hunters and shamans; the clouds are said to be her birds and the fog her breath. She is named as the mother of the primordial spirit-beings, the Anaposo, and as the guarantor of the world's fertility. Sources differ on whether Eschetewuarha and the scarlet spirit Ashnuwerta are two goddesses or two names for a single supreme female being, the earlier Chaco ethnography favouring the former and the living Ishir tradition emphasising the latter.
Children
Domains
- sky and weather
- fertility and nature
Powers
- commands the clouds and the rain
- sustains all living things
Epithets
- Mistress of the WorldMetraux, Alfred. 'Ethnography of the Chaco,' Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 1, 1946. (secondary)
- Mother of the cloudsSusnik, Branislava. 'Chamacocos I: Cambio cultural.' Asuncion, 1969. (secondary)
Relations
- child: NemurCordeu, Edgardo J. 'Aishtuwente. Las ideas de deidad en la religiosidad chamacoco.' Suplemento Antropologico 24-27, 1989-1992. (secondary)
- child: AnaposoOlder ethnography names her mother of the primordial spirit-beings.Metraux, Alfred. 'Ethnography of the Chaco,' Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 1, 1946. (secondary)
- child: PfaujataCordeu, Edgardo J. 'Aishtuwente.' Suplemento Antropologico 24-27, 1989-1992. (secondary)
- child: HoleCordeu, Edgardo J. 'Aishtuwente.' Suplemento Antropologico 24-27, 1989-1992. (secondary)
- child: KaimoCordeu, Edgardo J. 'Aishtuwente.' Suplemento Antropologico 24-27, 1989-1992. (secondary)
Sources
- Eschetewuarha is the great mother goddess of the Chamacoco, mistress of nature and of the sky, who governs the clouds and rain.: Metraux, Alfred. 'Ethnography of the Chaco,' in Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 1, ed. J. Steward, 197-370. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1946. (secondary); Susnik, Branislava. 'Chamacocos I: Cambio cultural.' Asuncion: Museo Etnografico Andres Barbero, 1969. (secondary)
- She is regarded as mother of the primordial spirit-beings and receives cult offerings.: Cordeu, Edgardo J. 'Aishtuwente. Las ideas de deidad en la religiosidad chamacoco.' Suplemento Antropologico 24-27, 1989-1992. (secondary)