Romhõsi'wa
Xavante · deity · Xavante traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Romhõsi'wa, 'the ones who create', are the immortal creator-beings of Xavante spiritual thought and the source of all legitimate knowledge of the making of the world. The old narrators hold that creation and its story alike come down from the romhõsi'wa, whose deeds are recited and re-embodied to keep the cosmos and the people whole. They are identified with the always-living höimana'u'õ and with the primordial pair Parinai'a; the distinctions among these names mark emphasis — on the act of creating, on deathlessness, on the creating dyad — rather than separate powers.
Domains
- creation
- sacred knowledge
Powers
- originates the knowledge of creation
- confers the state of the always-living
Epithets
- höimana'u'õ — the always-living, the immortalsL. R. Graham, Performing Dreams (1995) (secondary)
Relations
- ally: Parinai'aRomhõsi'wa and Parinai'a are treated as coextensive designations of the creating power.A. Shaker Eid, Os Senhores da Criação do Mundo Xavante (2012) (secondary)
- ally: Höimana'u'õThe creators are the immortal, always-living beings.L. R. Graham, Performing Dreams (1995) (secondary)
- ally: WarodiThe elder Warodi received creation songs from the creators.L. R. Graham, Performing Dreams (1995) (secondary)
Sources
- The romhõsi'wa are the immortal creators or 'lords of creation' from whom all knowledge of the origin of the world descends, transmitted through the elder Xavante narrators.: A. Shaker Eid, Romhõsi'wai hawi rowa'õno re ihoimana mono: a criação do mundo segundo os velhos narradores Xavante (UNICAMP, 2002) (secondary); Sereburã et al., Wamrêmé Za'ra — Nossa Palavra (SENAC, 1998) (primary)