ADSactly Culture: Huio: Venezuela’s Aboriginal “Great Serpent”
Readers of @ADSactly, regarding the previous post of our friend @ladyrebecca, where she touches on the aspect of the Amazonian ethnic groups, I take this opportunity to present a post of my research about a female deity belonging to the ethnic group so'to (commonly known as maquiritare), and, at the same time, pay tribute to one of the great researchers of that population and aboriginal culture of the territory that was called Venezuela.
I'll start with the second, necessarily. Marc de Civrieux (France, 1919 - Venezuela, 2003) was a geologist and professor and researcher at the Oceanographic Institute (Cumaná) of the University of Oriente (Venezuela). He was one of the most important scholars of the aboriginal cultures of this country (and even beyond), a task whose initial milestone was the expedition he undertook with entomologist René Lichy and other specialists in 1949 to the origins of the Orinoco.
His books and numerous publications in specialized journals are the product of this dedicated ethnological work. His work includes, among others, El hombre silvestre ante la naturaleza, Religión y magia kariña, Los cumanagotos y sus vecinos, Los últimos coacas, Los caribes y la conquista de la Guayana española, Los chaima del Guácharo. From his research on the not well called "maquiritares", his book Watunna stands out. A cycle of creation in the Orinoco, whose first edition is of 1970 and then re-edited (extended and improved) in 1992. *Watunna, as Cievreux himself points out, is the "mythical recitation of the great so'to tribe". His work was reviewed and completed in Myth and Kunuhana Religion, posthumous edition.
I come to introduce this female deity studied by Civrieux, which astonishes us and captivates us when we meet her. As I am not a specialist, I will only synthesize and highlight central aspects of what the researcher said.
Some necessary previous information. So'to is the real name of the so-called "maquiritares", a name given by the Spanish conquerors from an expression of Arawak origin. Civrieux states: "Self-gentification has an essentially linguistic meaning for the tribe, so'to are the speakers of the true language, so'to; it means people, human person (...)" (2015). The so'to are of Caribbean linguistic affiliation. Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, they live in the right or northern part of the Upper Orinoco (Amazon State), space of mountains and jungles, which is crossed by large tributaries of the great river: Ventuari, Caura, Iguapo, Kunukunuma and Padamo. It would be integrated by the subgroups: yekuana, ihuruhana and kunuhana, "closely linked by language: so'to and by the same oral tradition: Watunna, the sacred foundation of their political and commercial unity".
Civrieux points out that in the religion of this great tribe or people -particularly in that of the Kunuhana-, as in that of other peoples of South American tropical jungle habitat, "there is no notion of a personal god nor of gods", nor of Great God or Supreme Being, which would be "inherent to evolved religions", not to "archaic religions, where the notion of "power", as well as that of "creative activity" in the world, is shared between powerful and numerous "entities". The researcher specifies three major supernatural entities: Shi, Wanadi and Huio. Here we will only refer to the latter.
**Huio (or *Hui'io) is a fundamental deity in this mythology and religion. On it Civrieux presents some essential considerations in the cited work, in addition to the account of Watunna (See in 1, 2 and 3 the complete account, and if you want to access the book you can download it in this link). It characterizes it as "Immanent Deity", because it would respond to the criteria of powerful, dangerous and fearful beings, provocateurs of good and evil, who act among human beings, and who can manifest themselves on earth, even if they live submerged in their true sacred world. He adds that "the panic over the sacred and the deep fear that the deities inspire" is a significant cultural trait that differentiates the "semi-tenebrous jungle religions" from the communities of horticulturists and forest collectors of the "enlightened" religions of the great agricultural civilizations of America.
Huio would correspond to a representation that appears in several American mythologies: the water snake, the water mother, the giant snake, the Great Serpent, etc. Let us quote Civrieux:
In Huio (...) we observe an allegory to the feathered serpent, sacred symbol of cosmic life among the Mesoamerican civilizations and, essentially, a typical example of the terrible pseudo-demonial aspect of a maximum beneficial deity in the "pre-solar" religion of the Orinoco horticulturists. (idem).
Here are two key aspects that are highlighted by the scholar. First, the "pre-solar" character of this religion, where, as in others of the same type, the principle of abundance of the earth is associated with the first manifestation of the rainbow, "active emblem, solar and aquatic at the same time, intermediary between heaven (sunlight) and earth (water of life)" (ob. cit., p. 27). The appearance of Huio is that of the rainbow over the earth and coincides with the first rain. At that moment the great rivers, waterfalls and jungles are born. Among the so'to, indicates Civrieux, Huio, the rainbow replaces the sun; its appearance on the earth is the great sign and is equivalent to the dawn of the Popol Vuh.
The second aspect is the analogy with the Mesoamerican "feathered snake". The colors of the rainbow, which appear in the sky after the first rain, correspond to the mantle of feathers of Huio. In the myth, the primordial birds (among them Dariche) pull up their bright and colorful feathers to Huio; thus, the feathers of this one are the ones that dress the birds. Both in Huio and in the Mesoamerican "Feathered Serpent" the symbolization of the confluence of heaven and earth would be fulfilled, with the difference that in the "solar" religions of Mesoamerica -precise Civrieux- the second is the precursor of the sun, the planet Venus (idem).
Huio, in short, would be the deity that owns the rainbow, the waters and all the serpents (máwari), a symbolic synthesis of life, death and rebirth in a permanent cycle; therefore, it represents the fertility of the earth and women.
We know that Venezuelan aboriginal cultures did not leave sculptural monuments, but petroglyphs. There is an enormous pictograph of the great snake, 120 meters long, in the Upper Orinoco, 12 kms. from the Atures channel, which was discovered in 1889 by the expeditionary Jean Chaffanjon, whose reproduction I place below:
Finally, I would like to offer you an extensive quote from Civrieux, where it recreates in a narrative and poetic way the great power of Huio:
A Huio likes to roll and play in the great waterfalls, in the mists of the stormy rapids of the rivers and extend his beautiful veil of multicoloured feathers against the light of the sun to dry it. The admirable vision of Huio when he opens his iridescent mantle in space is at the same time dangerous for ordinary men who are forbidden to look at her or point a finger at her, on pain of suffering great diseases and even death can result from this sacrilege. The view of the Great Mother of fecundity and vegetable life is forbidden to ordinary men because she can devour those who transgress the taboo or punish the community with epidemics or lack of food, and nothing is more dangerous than provoking their anger. Therefore, when Huio appears in all his magnificence displaying his iris feathers, it is better to hide in houses and avoid the dangerous contact of the profane soul with the sacred vision. (ob. cit., p. 27)
Bibliographic references
Civrieux, Marc de (1992). Watunna. A cycle of creation in the Orinoco (2nd ed.). Caracas, Venezuela: Monte Ávila.
Civrieux, Marc de (2015). Myth and religion Kunuhuna. Barcelona, Venezuela: Fondo Editorial del Caribe.
The man who came from the Orinoco. Tribute to Marc de Civrieux. Special edition of Correo Mínimo, nº 32 (Oct.-Dec.2000). Caracas, Venezuela: Kuai-mare Foundation.
University College London. (2017, December 7). Venezuelan cave art mapped with unprecedented details. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 9, 2018 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171207094956.htm
Written by @josemalavem
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Interesting and fantastic publication, @josemalavem. Proud to belong to the University that has trained so many excellent researchers. I have always been fascinated by indigenous culture and have approached it through readings, but also through the oral histories told by my paternal grandmother. It is true that there is a kind of respect and fear of certain deities, elements. I remember my grandmother talking about thunder, but also about rivers, where her ancestors were, about mountains and some animals. the snake was always a unique and primitive reference. Thank you for such an excellent article.
Thanks for your comment, @nancybriti. The mythical-symbolic image of the snake of our aboriginal cultures survives in later legends and rural tales and, I would say, in our collective unconscious, in general, associated with the waters (rivers, lagoons, etc.). Our immediate ancestors (grandparents) until recently told stories inspired by these mythical bases.
It's very interesting that they do not consider these deities gods, yet they so are fearful of their destructive power. I am not sure what this difference is between a god and this kind of powerful entity.
I love having access to all this information about Venezuela! The culture of Venezuela is so rich, I can easily see why Civrieux
did so much work to document it. Thank you for putting together this informative post.
I appreciate your reading, @owasco. The concepts of god or deity can have different meanings and scopes, depending on the philosophy or theory assumed.
In the sense given by Civrieux, the god (or gods) would be seen as the supreme being and creator, as seen in Mayan myths, collected in the Popol Vuh, where there is a group of extratermporal and extra-spatial creator beings. In the case of the religions he calls South American "jungle-sabanero", he prefers to speak of deities as supernatural beings, not responsible for an act of creation of the universe, which take the corporeality of an animal and represent some natural phenomena.
Indeed, the ancient cultures of that territory which today is called Venezuela, but of all the caribbean zone and beyond are extremely interesting, but not sufficiently studied.
Thank you for that excellent clarification!
Such a fascinating post. Well documented and organized.
It's a reason of pride for us to have been part of the same university that at some point had such brilliant scholars like Civrieux.
It is also humbling that foreigners like himself took the mission of documenting our culture, leaving us with this wonderful body of work.
Interesting how ancient myth and legents somehow confirm some archeaological discoveries, like feathered reptiles. Out primitive peoples might not have been as primitive as they have been portraited to be.
I appreciate your reading, @hlezama. Marc de Civrieux was, without a doubt, an important researcher, one of the most outstanding that the Universidad de Oriente de Venezuela hosted. Unfortunately, I believe that his contributions have not been fully valued both in our university and in the Venezuelan and American academy in general.
The mythical symbol of the "feathered serpent" -Quetzalcóatl, for the Nahuas- is, from my knowledge, one of the most significant of the primitive cultures (in the best sense, that is to say, the first); its cultural richness is very complex and surprising.
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@josemalavem, In my opinion in every Culture there is a mention of Giant Snake 🐍 in one way or other and for sure still the actual mystery has to be unfolded to meet the real truth.
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Hello, @chireerocks. I don't know if in all ancient cultures, but surely in most must exist the myth and symbol of the giant snake. Now, that you can unravel the mystery, I don't know... Perhaps it is better to let it continue to exist as a mystery, because I believe that we will never be able to fully access it, as in any real mystery. As the Irish poet Yeats said, we only lift the tip of the veil. Thank you for your visit.
Welcome but in my opinion one day we will going to see all mysterious aspects in light.
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