Tsave Yoh
Tewa Pueblos · numen · Tewa Pueblos traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The Tsave Yoh is the masked whipper of the Tewa, a fearsome disciplinary and purifying being who appears in the ceremonial season to frighten the disobedient and to cleanse the community. Wielding bundles of yucca, he lashes children into right conduct and whips participants in a ritual stripping-away of bad thoughts and impurity, acting as warrior-guardian of the moral and ceremonial order. He belongs to the family of Pueblo whipper and ogre kachinas and appears in the folktales collected by Parsons as a bogey invoked to correct misbehavior.
Domains
- initiation
- protection
Powers
- whips and purifies with the yucca lash
Sources
- The Tsave Yoh is a masked Tewa whipper or scare-being who disciplines children and initiates and purifies with the yucca lash.: Sweet, Jill D. 2004. Dances of the Tewa Pueblo Indians: Expressions of New Life, rev. ed. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press. (secondary); Parsons, Elsie Clews. 1926. Tewa Tales. Memoirs of the American Folklore Society 19. New York: American Folklore Society. (primary)