Lëm

Male solar deity of the kína myth-cycle. The masks of the kína impersonate Lëm (the Sun-man) alongside Hánuxa (the Moon-woman) and Akáinix (the rainbow-man). Classed as a deity with no attested divine parent; he and Akáinix are brothers.

Domains

• sun
• daylight and the sky

Powers

• ascends into the sky and becomes the Sun
• gives light and warmth as the Sun in the sky

Relations

• sibling: AkáinixReciprocal of yamana_akainix.sibling. Lëm the Sun and Akáinix the rainbow are named brothers in the Ser-Indígena / El Rompehielos tradition; this is the stable, unambiguous kin relation among the kína-myth sky figures.Ser Indígena / El Rompehielos, 'Cultura yámana: Akainix' (elrompehielos.com.ar): Akáinix the rainbow, 'hermano de Lem el sol' (brother of Lëm the Sun). (secondary)
• spouse: HánuxaReciprocal of yamana_hanuxa.spouse. Wired per the English Ser-Indígena passage (Hánuxa wife of Lëm). NOTE the variant: the Spanish Ser-Indígena / El Rompehielos tradition instead makes Hánuxa the wife of Akáinix the rainbow (see Hánuxa's notes).Ser Indígena, 'Mundo Espiritual — Yagán' (serindigena.org), English rendering: Hánuxa the Moon-woman as wife of Lëm the Sun. (secondary)

Sources

• Lëm is the Yámana Sun: in the kína myth a primeval man who, after the men overthrew the women, ascended into the sky and became the Sun; he is the brother of the rainbow Akáinix and, in one tradition, the husband of the Moon-woman Hánuxa.: Wilbert, Johannes (ed.). Folk Literature of the Yamana Indians (Gusinde's collection), 1977. (secondary); Gusinde, Martin. Die Feuerland-Indianer, Band II: Die Yamana, 1937. (secondary); Hakai Magazine, 'The Man Who Became the Rainbow' (hakaimagazine.com); Ser Indígena, 'Mundo Espiritual — Yagán' (serindigena.org). (secondary)