Nunkui

Nunkui is the earth-mother of the Shuar and Achuar (Jivaroan) peoples of the eastern Ecuadorian and northern Peruvian montaña, regarded as the creatrix of manioc, sweet potato, peanut and the other cultivated plants, as well as of clay for pottery. Her favourite dwelling is the loose topsoil of a woman's garden, and a gardener must cultivate a personal relationship with her, singing intimate magical songs (anent) to the plants as if to children so that only Nunkui overhears them. According to the foundational myth she once gave the Shuar a child who magically produced all foods, but the child was abused and Nunkui withdrew her abundance, leaving humans to labour for their crops. She forms a complementary divine pair with the forest-and-clearing being Shakaim, the two together embodying the ideal division of female and male work.

Domains

• cultivated plants and gardens
• soil and earth fertility
• pottery and ceramics

Powers

• to make cultivated plants grow and multiply in the garden
• to appear in dreams and reveal fertility stones to gardeners

Epithets

• Nunkui Nua

Relations

• spouse: Shakaim

Sources

• Michael J. Harner, The Jívaro: People of the Sacred Waterfalls (New York: Natural History Press / Doubleday, 1972).
• Philippe Descola, The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle, trans. Janet Lloyd (New York: New Press, 1996).
• Siro M. Pellizzaro, Nunkui: el modelo de la mujer shuar, Mundo Shuar serie F (Sucúa: Centro de Documentación, Investigación y Publicaciones, 1978).