Nui

Nui, the Buzzard or turkey vulture, is a being of the first world associated with the sun and with formidable shamanic power. In the creation he flies close above the still-soft earth, and the tips of his wings carve the ranges into their ridges and canyons; the sun's nearness scorches his head, which is why the buzzard is bald and red to this day. In the great chronicle Buzzard is one of the doctors whose sorcery compasses the death of Elder Brother, setting in motion the hero's descent to the underworld and eventual return. He stands among the O'odham as the type of the dangerous magician of the old order.

Domains

• sky and sun
• sorcery

Powers

• shape the mountains with fire and wing
• kill by shamanic power

Epithets

• Ñui

Relations

• enemy: I'itoi

Sources

• Frank Russell, The Pima Indians (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908)
• Donald Bahr et al., The Short Swift Time of Gods on Earth (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994)