The Twins

The heavenly Twins (Sun and Moon) of the widespread Tupi-Guarani Twin cycle: sons of the demiurge Maíra, raised by jaguars who had killed their mother, whom they avenge before ordering the world. The foundational culture-hero pair of Tupi-Guarani myth.

Parentage

• Maíra

Domains

• culture heroes vengeance

Powers

• Trap and destroy the jaguars who killed their mother
• Give the natural and social order its present form

Relations

• father: Maíra

Sources

• Métraux, La religion des Tupinamba (1928)
• Nimuendajú, Die Sagen von der Erschaffung und Vernichtung der Welt (1914)