I'itoi

I'itoi, called Se'ehe or Elder Brother (and Siuuhu among the Pima), is the pivotal figure of O'odham religion. He completes the shaping of the world begun by Earth Doctor, creates or perfects human beings, and gives the O'odham their songs, ceremonies, and desert way of life, including the saguaro-wine rain ritual. In the great chronicle he is slain through the sorcery of Buzzard and the earlier people, but he revives, descends into the underworld, and brings up from below the ancestors of the present O'odham, who emerge to overcome the Hohokam. Elder Brother is believed to live still, withdrawn within a labyrinthine cave on Baboquivari Peak, the axis of the O'odham homeland; the emblem known as the Man in the Maze depicts him at the mouth of the winding path of life. Sources differ on his exact relation to Earth Doctor, some casting the two as independent creators and others as kin.

Domains

• culture hero
• creation

Powers

• lead the people up from the underworld
• rise again after being slain
• give the people songs and ceremonies

Epithets

• Se'ehe — Elder BrotherRuth M. Underhill, Papago Indian Religion (New York: Columbia University Press, 1946) (secondary)
• Siuuhu — Elder Brother (Pima form)Donald Bahr et al., The Short Swift Time of Gods on Earth (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994) (secondary)

Relations

• ally: Jewed MaakaiFellow creator power.Donald Bahr et al., The Short Swift Time of Gods on Earth (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994) (secondary)
• companion: BanCoyote assists and sometimes rivals Elder Brother in ordering the world.Ruth M. Underhill, Papago Indian Religion (New York: Columbia University Press, 1946) (secondary)
• enemy: NuiBuzzard's sorcery brings about Elder Brother's death.Frank Russell, The Pima Indians (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908) (secondary)
• enemy: Ho'okElder Brother destroys the child-devouring ogress.Dean Saxton and Lucille Saxton, O'odham Hoho'ok A'agitha (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1973) (secondary)
• enemy: Ba'agElder Brother kills the man-eating Eagle.J. William Lloyd, Aw-aw-tam Indian Nights (Westfield, N.J.: The Lloyd Group, 1911) (secondary)

Sources

• I'itoi, Elder Brother, is the central culture hero of the O'odham, who shapes human life, is slain and returns, and leads the people up from the underworld.: Ruth M. Underhill, Papago Indian Religion (New York: Columbia University Press, 1946) (secondary); Donald Bahr et al., The Short Swift Time of Gods on Earth: The Hohokam Chronicles (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994) (secondary)
• Elder Brother is said to dwell within a maze or cave on Baboquivari Peak, the sacred center of the O'odham world.: Bernard L. Fontana, Of Earth and Little Rain: The Papago Indians (Flagstaff: Northland Press, 1981) (secondary)
• Early Spanish and Anglo writers sometimes mistakenly identified Elder Brother with 'Montezuma'.: Frank Russell, The Pima Indians (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908) (secondary)