Ulepala
Wayuu · mortal · Wayuu traditional religion; continuing · mortal
Ulepala (Ulépala) is the hero of a well-known Wayuu myth of the journey to the land of the dead. Yearning for his beloved who has died, he undertakes a difficult and dangerous passage to Jepira — the mansion of the Wayuu dead, situated on a headland in the sea and reached by way of the Milky Way — in the hope of bringing her back among the living. The narrative, one of the myths collected and given structural analysis by Michel Perrin, articulates Wayuu conceptions of death, the fate of the soul, and the irreversible boundary between the living and the spirits (yolujaa) who dwell in Jepira.
Domains
- journey to the dead
Powers
- to travel living into the land of the dead and return
Sources
- Perrin, Michel (1976). El camino de los indios muertos: Mitos y símbolos guajiros. Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores.
- Perrin, Michel (1987). The Way of the Dead Indians: Guajiro Myths and Symbols. Trans. Michael Fineberg. Austin: University of Texas Press.
- Wilbert, Johannes, and Karin Simoneau, eds. (1986). Folk Literature of the Guajiro Indians. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center Publications.