spirit-animals of Wakue`nai (Amazonas, Venezuela) = MesoAmerican day-signs

KSCh, p. 117 = Table 4.1, Chants 3 to 5

Wakue`nai

Spanish

English

Meso-American day-signs

English

3:1

dzapa

tucunare

"peacock bass" [they catch fallen flying insects]

[Kic^e` 1st Imox "beetle"]

 

3:2

hola

caribe

"piranha"

   

3:3

kaimana

caima`n

"crocodile"

1st cipactli

"crocodile"

3:4

katsirri

babilla

"alligator"

2nd ehecatl

depicted with long beak

3:5

 

cabeza roja

red-headed

4th cuetzpallin

"lizard" [depicted red-&-blue]

3:6

kulirri

rayado

"eel-catfish"

5th coatl

"snake"

4:1

4:2

apidza

dzamuritu

ba`quira

cha`charo

"peccary"

6th miquiztli

"death" {cf. Papuan swine, interior of whose body is the netherworld}

4:3

neeri

venado colorado

"red deer"

7th mazatl

"deer"

4:4

taaru

osso palmero

"anteater"

   

4:5

heema

danta

"tapir"

   

4:6-7

dapa

lapa

paca = "spotted cavy"

8th tochtli

"rabbit"

4:8-9

pic^i

picure

"agouti" (like guinea pig)

9th atl

"water" [agoutis swim]

5:1

kapiti

guachi

"coatimundi" (banded-tailed, like racoon)

   

5:2-3

aridali

adzana

armadillo [nearly hairless]

 

10th itzcuintli

"hairless hound"

5:4

aate

osso hormiguero

"sloth"

   

5:5

dzowi

little guachi

"poto"

   

5:6-11

 

mono

"monkey

11th ozomatli

"monkey"

           

KSCh, p. 118 -- Table 4.1, Chant 6

         

6:1-2

maare

itsirri

u`quira

"duck" [its bill = jaw]

12th malinalli

depicted as a jawbone

6:3

atine

gru`a

"crane" [including the bittern, with head upward simulating a reed]

13th acatl

"reed"

6:4

yellow kwic^i which became an anaconda

   

14th ocelotl

"ocelot" [cf. ocelot & birds attacking serpent-suited gods, in Codex Borgia, p. 44]

6:5

dzate

piapoco

"toucan"

15th quauhtli

"eagle"

6:6

adaru

guacamaya

"macaw" (fruit-eater) [in the Popol Vuh of the Kic^e`, Cakix the macaw bit off a man's arm]

16th cozca-quauhtli

"vulture" [seeking fruit from tree which eludeth (CC, p. 328), just as the fruit-tree eludeth Tantalos (GM 108.d), who had fed (GM 108.c) his own son's left shoulder to a goddess]

6:7

paic^i

rana

"frog" [is this the Phryno-batrachus "paddle frog"?]

17th ollin (< *orin)

["The name Orinoco is derived from Guarauno words meaning "a place to paddle"

(OR)]

6:8

kwic^i

white pauji

"curassow-bird"

18th

 

6:9

     

19th

 

6:10

     

20th

 

KSCh = Jonathan D. Hill: Keepers of the Sacred Chants. U. of AZ Pr, Tucson, 1993.

CC = ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, Vol. 52: Pt. 5 = Gerald Weiss: Campa Cosmology. NY, 1975.

GM = Robert Graves: The Greek Myths. 1955.

OR = http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9374149/Orinoco-River