Southern Hero
Selk'nam · demigod · mythic primordial · Recorded classification
Male ancestral hero (howenh); classed as demigod. One of the most important first-age beings alongside Kénos and the shaman-ancestor Čénuke. Documented by Gusinde and Chapman.
Domains
- death and mortality
- culture heroism
Powers
- make death permanent among people
Sources
- Kwányip is a major Selk'nam howenh and culture-hero of the south, central to the myth-cycle that explains the permanence of death.: Gusinde, Martin. Die Feuerland-Indianer, Band I: Die Selk'nam, 1931. (secondary); Chapman, Anne. Drama and Power in a Hunting Society, 1982. (secondary)