Sky-Creator
Enga · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Solar high-god / creator-source of the Central Enga (rendered as deity). Brennan (1977) is the standard source on Central Enga cosmology; the moon is reckoned female opposite him. The name's distribution and the exact gloss vary by Enga dialect group.
Children
Domains
- sun
- creation
Powers
- ORIGINATE all that exists as the sky-source
Epithets
- Aitawe The sky-being and remote creator of the EngaM. J. Meggitt, on the Enga of the New Guinea Highlands (secondary)
Relations
- ancestor of: Sky PeopleSolar high-god and creator-source; the yalyakali (sky people) are the celestial spirit-class proceeding from him. Recorded as ancestor-of to preserve their deity tier.Brennan, P. W., 'Let Sleeping Snakes Lie: Central Enga Traditional Religious Belief and Ritual' (1977) (secondary)
Sources
- Among the Central Enga, Aitawe is a male deity symbolised by the sun and regarded as the creator or source of nearly all that exists; he lives in the sky with the female moon and the sky-beings and spawned the immortal yalyakali.: Brennan, P.W. (1977). Let Sleeping Snakes Lie: Central Enga Religious Belief and Ritual. Australian Association for the Study of Religions. (ethnography); Biersack, A. (2011). 'The Sun and the Shakers, Again: Enga, Ipili, and Somaip Perspectives on the Cult of Ain.' Oceania 81(2-3). (ethnography)