Uŋktéhi
Sioux/Lakota · deity · second world · Recorded classification
Uŋktéhi, the great water monster, is a horned serpent-being of the deep waters and the chief of the underwater powers — wakȟáŋ but dangerous, bringer of floods and drownings. She is the eternal enemy of the Thunderbird Wakíŋyaŋ, who hunts her with lightning; this opposition of water and sky is a fundamental polarity of Lakota cosmology, and the fossil bones of the Plains were taken for the remains of the Uŋktéhi the Thunder had slain.
Domains
- water and the deep
- flood and the underwater powers
Powers
- raise floods and drag down the drowned
- wage perpetual war on the Thunderbird
Relations
- enemy: WakíŋyaŋEternal adversary of Wakíŋyaŋ the Thunderbird; the serpent of the waters against the Thunder of the sky.Walker, Lakota Belief and Ritual (1980); Powers, Oglala Religion (1977) (secondary)
Sources
- existence: Walker, The Sun Dance and Other Ceremonies of the Oglala (AMNH 16, 1917) (secondary); Walker, Lakota Belief and Ritual (DeMallie & Jahner eds., 1980) (secondary); Powers, Oglala Religion (1977) (secondary)