Cosmic Bear Ancestor

Culture-hero / first-ancestor tier (classed as demigod: a half-man, half-bear primordial). Counterpart-hunter to the elk Heglun in the cosmic-hunt myth. The bear cult (address amaka, ritual apology before the kill) is the lived correlate of this figure.

Domains

• first ancestor
• the hunt

Powers

• chases the cosmic elk across the sky to win back the sun
• embodies the kinship of humans and the bear as first ancestor

Relations

• enemy: Cosmic Elk

Sources

• G. M. Vasilevich, 'Early Concepts about the Universe among the Evenks', in Studies in Siberian Shamanism, 1963