Yetaita

SOLITARY: Yetaita is recorded with no kin. He is opposed to the good supreme being Watauinéwa but is expressly not his rival or equal — Yámana thought holds that 'there cannot be rivalry between them,' and the sources stress that Yetaita 'does not have the same importance as the creator god.' He is therefore deliberately NOT wired as an enemy of Watauinéwa. Classed as a deity (a spirit-being) with no attested divine parent.

Domains

• male initiation kina
• evil and the underground

Powers

• terrifies the male novices (ushwáala) in the kína lodge
• emerges from beneath the earth, up through the fire
• personifies evil and the harmful side of life

Sources

• Yetaita is the fearsome malevolent spirit of the Yámana men's initiation (kína), who rises from beneath the earth through the fire to terrify the novices; he personifies evil and stands opposed to — but is not the equal or rival of — the supreme being Watauinéwa.: Gusinde, Martin. Die Feuerland-Indianer, Band II: Die Yamana, 1937 (Eng. trans. The Yamana, HRAF 1961). (secondary); Chile Precolombino, 'Beliefs and funeral rites — Yámana' (chileprecolombino.cl). (secondary); Ser Indígena, 'Mundo Espiritual — Yagán' (serindigena.org). (secondary)