By Luciano Gonzalez
North, South, and Central American mythology is a huge field, but unfortunately, a lot of it has remained in obscurity, and most people nowadays can only remember two characters: La Llorona and El Chupacabras. So, today we are going to take a look at four fascinating supernatural characters from different American mythologies. Let’s go on this journey together!
1. The Hero Twins
Yarkspiri at DeviantArt
The Mayan Hero Twins named Xbalanque and Hunahpu are the main characters of a long epic from a K’iche’ (an indigenous Mayan group that lives in Guatemala) text named Popol Vuh. The twins are the children of one member of a past set of divine twins and a goddess whose father was one of the lords of Xibalba, the Mayan underworld. They go on an adventure to avenge their father and their uncle who were slain by the lords of the underworld after they were tricked by the lords of Xibalba. Over the course of their adventure, the twins fight ancient monsters, perform miracles and divine pranks, and even come back from the dead!
2. Maricoxi
The Maricoxi could be considered the South American version of Bigfoot. These are large and intelligent great-apes that have supposedly been seen in jungles throughout South America. They reportedly live in villages and are capable of using bows and arrows, a trait that sounds remarkable (and would be if such creatures were proven to exist), but is less astounding when someone remembers that monkeys have been videotaped using stones as tools to smash open objects, much like sea otters can.
3. Guabancex
@atabeychoretomedicinals
Guabancex is a Taino Zemi, a powerful nature goddess/spirit who in Taino myth is the key creature responsible for hurricanes. Hurricanes are actually a group effort, and Guabancex calls a group of Zemi for each hurricane she unleashes, but generally, she is considered the top storm goddess and the mastermind behind violent storms. Each storm features her devastating winds, the lightning of Guatauba, and the rain of Coatrisque. Despite her power, she is generally believed not to attack with her storms indiscriminately but rather as a consequence of some action she doesn’t like. The most common action she isn’t fond of is being offered an insufficient amount of food or other valuables that are intended to keep her calm and prevent crippling storms from destroying harvests and distracting the hunt.
4. Nosjthej
A giant and the father of Elal, the hero-god of the Tehuelche people, who inhabited the region nowadays known as Patagonia. Nosjthej is a vile primordial evil who hates his son and wants nothing more than to see him broken and dead. He is afraid of the power of his son and knows that Elal will grow up to be a wonderful hero and champion if left to his own devices.
Mythology from Latin America is so much more than La Llorona and El Chupacabras. These are just some of the fantastic creatures and gods people who research our folkloric past will stumble across in their research. There are many more out there.
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