Jitoma
Uitoto · demigod · Uitoto traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Jitoma is the great solar culture-hero of the Uitoto, whose name is simply the word for the sun. Orphaned when the Dawn Sun his father is killed, he and his inseparable brother Kechatoma grow up to hunt down the murderer, ridding the world of a devouring monster before Jitoma takes his place in the sky as the daytime sun. He is a slayer of monsters and a shaman-hero, and in fire-origin narratives the luminous name Jitoma is assumed as a disguise during the winning of fire. Sources vary on whether Jitoma is best understood as a deity in his own right or as a deified culture-hero raised to the sun.
Parentage
- paternal: Monairue Jitoma
Domains
- sky
- heroism
- shamanism
Powers
- avenges his murdered father
- ascends into the sky to become the sun
Epithets
- el huérfano — the orphanCandre Yamakuri, Hipólito & Juan Álvaro Echeverri. 2015. 'Historia de los Huérfanos del Sol'. Mundo Amazónico 6(1). (primary)
Relations
- child: Monairue JitomaCandre Yamakuri, Hipólito & Juan Álvaro Echeverri. 2015. 'Historia de los Huérfanos del Sol'. Mundo Amazónico 6(1). (primary)
- sibling: KechatomaCandre Yamakuri, Hipólito & Juan Álvaro Echeverri. 2015. 'Historia de los Huérfanos del Sol'. Mundo Amazónico 6(1). (primary)
- ally: FɨzidoThe solar name Jitoma is borne in the fire-winning episode alongside the trickster Fɨzido.'El Diluvio y las Hazañas de Buinaima'. mitosdecolombia.com. (secondary)
- enemy: GaimoNative Languages of the Americas. 'Witoto Legends'. native-languages.org. (secondary)
Sources
- Jitoma, whose name means 'sun', is the orphan sun-hero who avenges his slain father and ascends to become the diurnal sun.: Candre Yamakuri, Hipólito & Juan Álvaro Echeverri. 2015. 'Jaɨeni Jitoma iaɨyinoɨ ikakɨ / Historia de los Huérfanos del Sol'. Mundo Amazónico 6(1). (primary); Urbina Rangel, Fernando. 2010. Las palabras del origen. Bogotá: Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia. (secondary)