Ofoda'e
Piaroa · deity · Piaroa traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Ofoda'e is the primordial mother of the Piaroa creation, the female from whom the demiurges of the dry land, Wahari and Buoka, are born. As the sister of the water-lord Kuemoi she places at the very root of the cosmos the affinal knot that drives its later drama, for her sons stand to Kuemoi as sister's children and, through Wahari's marriage, as sons-in-law. Her name is given variously across the recorded tellings, and in some she shades toward an identification with the earth itself; she marks the point of origin from which the shaping of the world proceeds.
Children
Domains
- primordial origin
Powers
- engender the demiurges of land
Epithets
- the primordial mother — she from whom the creators are bornBoglar, L. (1978). Cuentos y mitos de los Piaroa. Caracas: Universidad Catolica Andres Bello. (secondary)
Relations
- child: WahariBoglar, L. (1978). Cuentos y mitos de los Piaroa. Caracas: Universidad Catolica Andres Bello. (secondary)
- child: BuokaOvering, J. (1990). 'The Shaman as a Maker of Worlds.' Man (n.s.) 25(4): 602-619. (secondary)
- sibling: KuemoiAs sister of the water-lord she makes Kuemoi the maternal uncle of her sons.Overing Kaplan, J. (1975). The Piaroa, a People of the Orinoco Basin. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (secondary)
Sources
- Ofoda'e is the primordial female of Piaroa myth, mother of the land-creators Wahari and Buoka and sister of the water-lord Kuemoi.: Boglar, L. (1978). Cuentos y mitos de los Piaroa. Caracas: Universidad Catolica Andres Bello. (secondary); Overing Kaplan, J. (1975). The Piaroa, a People of the Orinoco Basin. Oxford: Clarendon Press. (secondary)