Female lunar deity of the kína myth-cycle; impersonated by a mask in the ceremony alongside Lëm and Akáinix. SPOUSE VARIANT: sources conflict on her husband — the English Ser-Indígena passage makes her the wife of Lëm the Sun (wired here), while the Spanish Ser-Indígena / El Rompehielos tradition makes her (as 'Janusha') the wife of Akáinix the rainbow. The flood association follows Bridges, Uttermost Part of the Earth (1948). She is DISTINCT from the giant Hánnush, who is a separate being and is not authored here. Classed as a deity with no attested divine parent.
Domains
moon
tides
the great flood
Powers
flees into the sky and becomes the Moon
governs / is associated with the rise and fall of the tides
Wilbert, Johannes (ed.). Folk Literature of the Yamana Indians (Gusinde's collection), 1977.
Bridges, E. Lucas. Uttermost Part of the Earth, 1948.
Gusinde, Martin. Die Feuerland-Indianer, Band II: Die Yamana, 1937; Hakai Magazine, 'The Man Who Became the Rainbow' (hakaimagazine.com); Ser Indígena, 'Mundo Espiritual — Yagán' (serindigena.org).