Heluta
Keresan Pueblos · deity · Keresan Pueblos traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Heluta is the father and chief of the katsina among the eastern Keres of Cochiti, the leader of the shiwana or rain spirits. In the Cochiti narratives he governs the coming of the masked dancers who bring rain and fertility to the pueblo, and he is remembered as a giver of game animals as well. Where the katsina as a body are the collective rain-and-cloud beings summoned in the dances, Heluta is their individual head, the being with whom the people and their intermediaries treat when the katsina are to be brought. He stands somewhat apart from the emergence genealogy of the Corn Mother and the war twins, a distinct power at the head of the katsina world.
Domains
- katsina
- weather
Powers
- leads the katsina and brings them to dance for the people
- grants game and rain to the people
Epithets
- Heluta — father of the katsinaBenedict, BAE Bulletin 98 (1931), p. 25. (primary)
Sources
- Heluta is the Cochiti Keres chief or father of the katsina (shiwana), leader of the rain spirits who come to dance for the people.: Benedict, R., Tales of the Cochiti Indians, BAE Bulletin 98 (1931), pp. 25-30. (primary); Dumarest, N., Notes on Cochiti, New Mexico, Memoirs AAA 6(3) (1919), pp. 172-184. (primary)