Alchupo'osh (the Sky Snake / Milky Way)

Alchupo'osh is the Sky Snake of the Chumash, the great serpent whose luminous body is seen overhead as the Milky Way. In the creation narrative he is the husband of the Earth Mother Hutash: after she had raised the first people from seeds on the island of Limuw, the Sky Snake gave them fire, and by its warmth they multiplied. He is said to make lightning with his tongue, a flashing power bound up with his gift of fire. Hudson and Underhay record the Sky Snake among the powerful beings of the upper world, where his coiled length marks the band of the galaxy.

Domains

• milky way
• fire and lightning

Powers

• to give fire to the first human beings
• to cast bolts of lightning with his tongue

Epithets

• Alchupo'osh

Relations

• spouse: Hutash (the Earth Mother)

Sources

• Thomas C. Blackburn, December's Child: A Book of Chumash Oral Narratives (University of California Press, 1975)
• Travis Hudson and Ernest Underhay, Crystals in the Sky: An Intellectual Odyssey Involving Chumash Astronomy, Cosmology, and Rock Art (Ballena Press Anthropological Papers No. 10, 1978)