Buru'õtõre
Xavante · numen · Xavante traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Buru'õtõre, the swallow, is the fire-rescuing culture-hero of the Xavante fire-theft narrative. When the stolen fire is on the point of falling into the water and going out, the swallow flies swiftly and catches it in the air, then passes it to Mã the rhea to carry to safety. As the boys chase and gather the flying embers they decorate their bodies and are turned into the many birds — jacu, curassow, toucan and others — whose colours and patterns are said to date from that moment.
Domains
- fire rescue
Powers
- seizes the falling fire in flight
- relays the fire to the rhea
Relations
- companion: MãSwallow and rhea together bear the fire to the people.Pracé Xavante, in Pappiani & Lacerda (eds.), 2014 (primary)
- enemy: the JaguarThe swallow takes the fire that was the jaguar's.Pracé Xavante, in Pappiani & Lacerda (eds.), 2014 (primary)
Sources
- Buru'õtõre, the swallow, catches the falling fire in mid-air as it is about to be extinguished in water and passes it to the rhea, a key act in the Xavante theft of the jaguar's fire.: Pracé Xavante, in A. Pappiani & M. Lacerda (eds.), Aiho'ubuni Wasu'u: O Lobo Guará e outras histórias do povo Xavante (Ikorê, 2014) (primary); G. L. J. Falleiros, The Theft of the Jaguar's Fire is not Property in Indigenous Central Brazil (Emerald, 2020) (secondary)