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Article: Awonawilona
- Article from:
- A Dictionary of World Mythology
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Copyright information© A Dictionary of World Mythology 1997, originally published by Oxford University Press 1997. (Hide copyright information)
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Awonawilona America
Literally, ‘all-container’. The dual creator deity of the Pueblo Zuni. Awonawilona existed before all else: by his-her volition did he-she create life. ‘The mists of increasing and the streams of growing’ flowed from his-her being, when it assumed the shape of the sun and fecundated the primeval sea. Green scum formed over the endless waters and became firm, then divided into Awitelin Tsta, earth mother, and Apoyan Tachi, sky father. From this divine pair sprang all living things.
In four wombs stirred the seeds of life. Inside each womb teemed unfinished creatures, crawling over one another in the darkness, writhing like reptiles as they tried ...