Onorúame-Eyerúame (the Father-Mother creator)

Onorúame-Eyerúame, 'the one who is Father / the one who is Mother', is the supreme creator of the Rarámuri (Tarahumara) of the Sierra Tarahumara in Chihuahua. The divinity is dual and complementary: a masculine pole, Onorúame ('Great Father'), and a feminine pole, Eyerúame ('Great Mother'). In Rarámuri thought the creator is faceless, cannot be depicted, and is neither good nor evil; the Father is associated with the Sun and the Mother with the Moon. Under the long influence of Jesuit missions the pair was identified with the Christian God (Riosi) and the Virgin Mary, yet the older sense of a Sun-Moon parent of all things persists. From the creator come the celestial children Rayénari (Sun), Metzaka (Moon) and Chirisópori (Morning Star), as well as the maize, mountains, rivers and animals of the world; the Rarámuri honour the creator with the yúmari and tutugúri dances and with offerings of tesgüino, the fermented maize drink, every olla of which is first dedicated to the Father.

Children

• Chirisópori (the Morning Star)
• Metzaka (the Moon, the Mother)
• Rayénari (the Sun, the Father)

Domains

• creation cosmogony
• sky father sun
• maize and sustenance

Powers

• to create the mountains, rivers, maize, animals and the Rarámuri people
• to keep human beings alive and to receive their offerings of tesgüino

Epithets

• OnorúameWendell C. Bennett & Robert M. Zingg, 'The Tarahumara: An Indian Tribe of Northern Mexico' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1935). (secondary)
• EyerúameWilliam L. Merrill & Don Burgess, 'Ralámuli Kinship Terminology: A Diachronic Perspective on Diversity in the Sierra Tarahumara of Northwestern Mexico', Anthropological Linguistics 56, no. 3-4 (2014): 229-293. (secondary)

Relations

• creator of: Rayénari (the Sun, the Father)The Father-Mother creator gives life to Rayénari, the Sun, the first of the celestial children.William L. Merrill, 'Rarámuri Souls: Knowledge and Social Process in Northern Mexico' (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988). (secondary)
• creator of: Metzaka (the Moon, the Mother)The same creator gives life to Metzaka, the Moon, the maternal celestial child who watches over the night.William L. Merrill, 'Rarámuri Souls: Knowledge and Social Process in Northern Mexico' (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988). (secondary)
• creator of: Chirisópori (the Morning Star)Chirisópori, the Morning Star, is brought forth as the third of the creator's celestial children.Wendell C. Bennett & Robert M. Zingg, 'The Tarahumara: An Indian Tribe of Northern Mexico' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1935). (secondary)
• enemy: Riablo (the Devil, brother of God)The creator (Riosi) is the elder counterpart and adversary of his brother the Devil; in narrative the two are bound in a tense fraternal opposition, the creator favouring the Rarámuri against the Devil's people.William L. Merrill, 'Rarámuri Souls: Knowledge and Social Process in Northern Mexico' (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988). (secondary)

Sources

• Onorúame-Eyerúame is the dual, faceless Father-Mother supreme creator of the Rarámuri, identified with the Sun-and-Moon pair and syncretized with the Christian God, who fashioned the world and the Rarámuri people.: William L. Merrill, 'Rarámuri Souls: Knowledge and Social Process in Northern Mexico' (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988). (secondary); Wendell C. Bennett & Robert M. Zingg, 'The Tarahumara: An Indian Tribe of Northern Mexico' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1935). (secondary)