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Description

The Wind Spirits are considered to be among the most important of all the Mayic deities. Their importance to the Mayic peoples stems from their belief that they were the first of the spirits to awaken and bring order to the cosmos. This group consists of five spirits, and each of them is associated with one of the five directions, including the North, South, East, West, and Center. The Mai collectively referred to these spirits as the Munage.

(I) The first of the Wind Spirits was named Tonehi Tamayuge, though he was also called the Spirit God of the Middle Places, the Maker of Motions, the Keeper of the Way, the Lord of the Inner World, the White Hound of Man, and the Awakener. He was born at the inception of the world when the cosmic Tan divided the Waters White and Black. It is said in the ancient tales passed down from fathers to their sons: "The waters of the Abyss were astir with the motions of the Tan, and these stirrings gave rise to the Muna and the Winds of Creation. The Muna divided the waters in two, one black and one white (i.e., mutte and nyonde), and the interplay of these waters birthed a child of wind." Tonehi Tamayuge is the benefactor of man, as he was the first to come upon First Man and First Woman, the ancestors of the Mai and all mankind, and he gave them many gifts so that they might inherit the age to come. He is said to have 125 forms, though he most favors the appearance of a handsome youth clad in blue or blue of skin, holding a fan and cloaked in a cape of white feathers. The fan is symbolic of his power to control the winds, and his cloak marks him as an ally of the beasts of the air and their rulers. He also often appears in the guise of a white hound, Nyombekku, the guardian of the home and the companion of the hero Ichimon during his time among the living. Dogs are of great importance to the Mai for they see them as the most noble and loyal of the many animals that inhabit their homelands. Tonehi Tamayuge rules over the Inner World (i.e., the Mayic afterworld) alongside his wife, Keyutinale, watching over all the men and beasts who have been buried by the spiral of Time and now reside in this twilight realm in restful peace. Wise beyond measure, and ceaselessly witty, the First Wind Spirit was worshipped as the god of Wisdom, Storytelling, Travelers, Boundaries, Justice, Transitions, Transformations, Trade, Life and Death.

(II) Kaldeyuk was the second of the five wind spirits, and he was known by many names including Father Dusk, the Subduer of Chaos, the Rainmaker, the White God, Allfather, Lord of the West, and Master of the Seas. He was also sometimes called "He Who Divided the Waters" for he was said to have split the waters of the heavens and the seas, creating the realm of middle air within which the World could grow and blossom according to the designs of the Tan. He has been described as a pale-skinned giant so massive that his feet touch the bottom of the sea, and his shoulders straddle the very slopes of the firmament. His pale complexion and his long, unkempt mane are symbolic of his virility and strong masculine attributes, so it is no surprise that he sired many children such as the Solar Boatman Aruhammon, Wounded Kunne, the Ever-vigilant Kallukommu, the Three Brothers of Fortune, and the aptly named Daughters of Kaldeyuk who are said to dwell along the shores of the Eastern Peninsula and guide sailors during their journeys on the open ocean. Kaldeyuk is a fertility god and a fearsome guardian deity who not only is responsible for sending rain to nourish the land, but also does battle with the demons who wish to unmake the World and overturn the Tan. The Pektwa or Storm Demons are his perennial foes; hideous, serpentine monsters that swim through the air as with it were water and who breathe great clouds of jet-black smoke. His battles with these beasts are the very storms that ravage the lands, the thunder his battle cry, and the peals of lightning streaking through the sky their white-hot ichor. The image above depicts him with his foot planted squarely on the demon's back with one of his hands grasping its tail while another brandishes his gargantuan club. He was worshipped as the god of Strength, Masculinity, Fatherhood, Competition, Weather, War, Sailors, the Sea, Fortune, Fertility, and Triumph over Adversity. His worship was strongest among the Lonelumayo and the Namma peoples, and he was considered the patron god of Erudehu.

(III) He is often called the Architect of the Fourfold Pillars, the Father of Dawn, the Black God, the Scalped One, and Lord of the East, though he is most often called Hurbashi of the Mountain Stump, for it was he who felled the great tree, Pusshuke, and used it to form the foundations of the World as it continued to develop in size and complexity. He used its boughs and wood to fashion four great pillars that he set up the four corners of the World and a great hoop that channeled the River of Heaven and relieved his elder brother the burden of carrying the sky on his back. According to the legends of the past, he formed the Sun and the Moon (i.e., Aru and Kunne respectively) from two halves of a giant fruit and gifted these flying boats to the son of his predecessor Kaldeyuk. It is also said that the seeds of this fruit sprang forth and became the shining beasts of Heaven (a.k.a., "Kanne" or "stars"). Needless to say, Hurbashi was a craftsman par excellence, and he was worshipped as the father of carpentry, sculpting, masonry, metalworking, and architecture. He was also considered a god of medicine. Hurbashi has no children for he is impotent, however, he has had many apprentices who have called him master. Black-handed Mundin of the hideous visage, protector of women and children, friend of midwives, charred Nebavwa who stole away the embers of the First Flame and became the father of the forge, and Hatammi, mistress of the River Mutnam were but a few of his countless students. He is normally depicted in the form of a feeble little man with a balding pate and skin the color of charcoal. This particular illustration shows him posed before his handiwork and the five Kanda that shepherd the Heaven-beasts through the sky. His left hand carries his measuring rod, while he makes a magical gesture with his right. His three fingers are positioned such that they align with the three axes of the World.

(IV) Fierce Nerahu was the Two-Faced God of the North, smoldering and overflowing with a passion unmatched in his peers. He is best recognized for his pivotal role in the battle against the cyclopean demon, White Eye Karak who had risen from the dark to swallow the World and remake it in its own vile image. Roused to righteous anger by the corruption that ravaged the World, Nerahu took upon himself the aspect of a fiery destroyer and engaged in a titanic duel to the death. His purifying flames unmade the noxious toxins that seeped out from the demon's wounds and his magic spear, Thorn, dealt blow after blow until the beast had finally been slain. It was said that amid his victory he danced upon the corpse of the fallen demon and pulled its eye from out of its blackened skull so that it might be hung in the sky as the polestar upon which the heavens turned eternal. Despite having won out over the greatest enemy of the gods, Nerahu's rage had not been sated and he too threatened to set the world aflame, for in his battle-madness and his love he could not bear to see the world be corrupted by another demon like Karak. He was stopped and elightened with the truths of the universe by an assortment of deities led by Anaihyo, but not before wounding Kunne, god of the moon, and murdering the spirit Hunni. He is the patron god of the war-like Kus, and they believe he is the true inheritor of the World and its rightful ruler. The depiction of Nerahu used for this illustration is specifically called a Nossonaesengo, and it is the most common way he is portrayed by the Kus. His two faces represent the two seemingly irreconcilable halves of his nature. He is at once both a god who burns with the spirit of retribution, war, and whit hot fire, but he is also a god of love, romance, joy, music, song, and dance. Nerahu is the very embodiment of fire, for like flame he is beautiful to behold but he is also incredibly dangerous. Nerahu has fathered many children, but he is also the master of several spirits such as the bloody backed Hanenar who bears his shield, Kusmwiyuk who carries his spear, and yellow-robed Pubwe (a.k.a., Cheruko) who used the flames of his lord to set alight the fire of the first hearth.

(V) The last of the Spirits of the Winds was called Anaihyon or Anaihyo. Anaihyo was born from the thrice-seared hide of the demon Karak by the will of the Cosmic Tan so that balance might be restored in the wake of the destruction left by the battle between Nerahu and the White-eyed fiend. According to legend, he was first found by an unnamed mountain goddess who greatly feared him and fled in terror at the sight of him. As mentioned in the description of Nerahu, he was one of several gods that was responsible for subduing him alongside Kunne, Hunni, Hanenar, Kusmwiyuk, and several others. He is also said to have been responsible for taming all the beasts of Heaven and setting them to form the constellations of the sky and mastering the planets so that they would no longer prey upon the stars. He has the green eyes typical of many Mayic demons, beastly feet with long talons, and scaled forelimbs like those of some frightful monster, yet he wears a serene expression that speaks to him having conquered and subsumed the inner beast. He also wields the two tools of mastery, a sickle and a goad with which he has made servants of both the plants of the wild, and the beasts of the fields. This can be shown by him standing amid a great sea of red Che grain accompanied by a plump Hwale. Anaihyo is the god of Animal Husbandry, Hunting, Farming, Domination, and the Cultvation of Self-Mastery. He is also considered the spirit god of the South, and is thus often associated with the cold and with Winter (the Mai live in the Southern hemisphere; hence it gets colder when you venture further south).

Description

The Wind Spirits are considered to be among the most important of all the Mayic deities. Their importance to the Mayic peoples stems from their belief that they were the first of the spirits to awaken and bring order to the cosmos. This group consists of five spirits, and each of them is associated with one of the five directions, including the North, South, East, West, and Center. The Mai collectively referred to these spirits as the Munage.

(I) The first of the Wind Spirits was named Tonehi Tamayuge, though he was also called the Spirit God of the Middle Places, the Maker of Motions, the Keeper of the Way, the Lord of the Inner World, the White Hound of Man, and the Awakener. He was born at the inception of the world when the cosmic Tan divided the Waters White and Black. It is said in the ancient tales passed down from fathers to their sons: "The waters of the Abyss were astir with the motions of the Tan, and these stirrings gave rise to the Muna and the Winds of Creation. The Muna divided the waters in two, one black and one white (i.e., mutte and nyonde), and the interplay of these waters birthed a child of wind." Tonehi Tamayuge is the benefactor of man, as he was the first to come upon First Man and First Woman, the ancestors of the Mai and all mankind, and he gave them many gifts so that they might inherit the age to come. He is said to have 125 forms, though he most favors the appearance of a handsome youth clad in blue or blue of skin, holding a fan and cloaked in a cape of white feathers. The fan is symbolic of his power to control the winds, and his cloak marks him as an ally of the beasts of the air and their rulers. He also often appears in the guise of a white hound, Nyombekku, the guardian of the home and the companion of the hero Ichimon during his time among the living. Dogs are of great importance to the Mai for they see them as the most noble and loyal of the many animals that inhabit their homelands. Tonehi Tamayuge rules over the Inner World (i.e., the Mayic afterworld) alongside his wife, Keyutinale, watching over all the men and beasts who have been buried by the spiral of Time and now reside in this twilight realm in restful peace. Wise beyond measure, and ceaselessly witty, the First Wind Spirit was worshipped as the god of Wisdom, Storytelling, Travelers, Boundaries, Justice, Transitions, Transformations, Trade, Life and Death.

(II) Kaldeyuk was the second of the five wind spirits, and he was known by many names including Father Dusk, the Subduer of Chaos, the Rainmaker, the White God, Allfather, Lord of the West, and Master of the Seas. He was also sometimes called "He Who Divided the Waters" for he was said to have split the waters of the heavens and the seas, creating the realm of middle air within which the World could grow and blossom according to the designs of the Tan. He has been described as a pale-skinned giant so massive that his feet touch the bottom of the sea, and his shoulders straddle the very slopes of the firmament. His pale complexion and his long, unkempt mane are symbolic of his virility and strong masculine attributes, so it is no surprise that he sired many children such as the Solar Boatman Aruhammon, Wounded Kunne, the Ever-vigilant Kallukommu, the Three Brothers of Fortune, and the aptly named Daughters of Kaldeyuk who are said to dwell along the shores of the Eastern Peninsula and guide sailors during their journeys on the open ocean. Kaldeyuk is a fertility god and a fearsome guardian deity who not only is responsible for sending rain to nourish the land, but also does battle with the demons who wish to unmake the World and overturn the Tan. The Pektwa or Storm Demons are his perennial foes; hideous, serpentine monsters that swim through the air as with it were water and who breathe great clouds of jet-black smoke. His battles with these beasts are the very storms that ravage the lands, the thunder his battle cry, and the peals of lightning streaking through the sky their white-hot ichor. The image above depicts him with his foot planted squarely on the demon's back with one of his hands grasping its tail while another brandishes his gargantuan club. He was worshipped as the god of Strength, Masculinity, Fatherhood, Competition, Weather, War, Sailors, the Sea, Fortune, Fertility, and Triumph over Adversity. His worship was strongest among the Lonelumayo and the Namma peoples, and he was considered the patron god of Erudehu.

(III) He is often called the Architect of the Fourfold Pillars, the Father of Dawn, the Black God, the Scalped One, and Lord of the East, though he is most often called Hurbashi of the Mountain Stump, for it was he who felled the great tree, Pusshuke, and used it to form the foundations of the World as it continued to develop in size and complexity. He used its boughs and wood to fashion four great pillars that he set up the four corners of the World and a great hoop that channeled the River of Heaven and relieved his elder brother the burden of carrying the sky on his back. According to the legends of the past, he formed the Sun and the Moon (i.e., Aru and Kunne respectively) from two halves of a giant fruit and gifted these flying boats to the son of his predecessor Kaldeyuk. It is also said that the seeds of this fruit sprang forth and became the shining beasts of Heaven (a.k.a., "Kanne" or "stars"). Needless to say, Hurbashi was a craftsman par excellence, and he was worshipped as the father of carpentry, sculpting, masonry, metalworking, and architecture. He was also considered a god of medicine. Hurbashi has no children for he is impotent, however, he has had many apprentices who have called him master. Black-handed Mundin of the hideous visage, protector of women and children, friend of midwives, charred Nebavwa who stole away the embers of the First Flame and became the father of the forge, and Hatammi, mistress of the River Mutnam were but a few of his countless students. He is normally depicted in the form of a feeble little man with a balding pate and skin the color of charcoal. This particular illustration shows him posed before his handiwork and the five Kanda that shepherd the Heaven-beasts through the sky. His left hand carries his measuring rod, while he makes a magical gesture with his right. His three fingers are positioned such that they align with the three axes of the World.

(IV) Fierce Nerahu was the Two-Faced God of the North, smoldering and overflowing with a passion unmatched in his peers. He is best recognized for his pivotal role in the battle against the cyclopean demon, White Eye Karak who had risen from the dark to swallow the World and remake it in its own vile image. Roused to righteous anger by the corruption that ravaged the World, Nerahu took upon himself the aspect of a fiery destroyer and engaged in a titanic duel to the death. His purifying flames unmade the noxious toxins that seeped out from the demon's wounds and his magic spear, Thorn, dealt blow after blow until the beast had finally been slain. It was said that amid his victory he danced upon the corpse of the fallen demon and pulled its eye from out of its blackened skull so that it might be hung in the sky as the polestar upon which the heavens turned eternal. Despite having won out over the greatest enemy of the gods, Nerahu's rage had not been sated and he too threatened to set the world aflame, for in his battle-madness and his love he could not bear to see the world be corrupted by another demon like Karak. He was stopped and elightened with the truths of the universe by an assortment of deities led by Anaihyo, but not before wounding Kunne, god of the moon, and murdering the spirit Hunni. He is the patron god of the war-like Kus, and they believe he is the true inheritor of the World and its rightful ruler. The depiction of Nerahu used for this illustration is specifically called a Nossonaesengo, and it is the most common way he is portrayed by the Kus. His two faces represent the two seemingly irreconcilable halves of his nature. He is at once both a god who burns with the spirit of retribution, war, and whit hot fire, but he is also a god of love, romance, joy, music, song, and dance. Nerahu is the very embodiment of fire, for like flame he is beautiful to behold but he is also incredibly dangerous. Nerahu has fathered many children, but he is also the master of several spirits such as the bloody backed Hanenar who bears his shield, Kusmwiyuk who carries his spear, and yellow-robed Pubwe (a.k.a., Cheruko) who used the flames of his lord to set alight the fire of the first hearth.

(V) The last of the Spirits of the Winds was called Anaihyon or Anaihyo. Anaihyo was born from the thrice-seared hide of the demon Karak by the will of the Cosmic Tan so that balance might be restored in the wake of the destruction left by the battle between Nerahu and the White-eyed fiend. According to legend, he was first found by an unnamed mountain goddess who greatly feared him and fled in terror at the sight of him. As mentioned in the description of Nerahu, he was one of several gods that was responsible for subduing him alongside Kunne, Hunni, Hanenar, Kusmwiyuk, and several others. He is also said to have been responsible for taming all the beasts of Heaven and setting them to form the constellations of the sky and mastering the planets so that they would no longer prey upon the stars. He has the green eyes typical of many Mayic demons, beastly feet with long talons, and scaled forelimbs like those of some frightful monster, yet he wears a serene expression that speaks to him having conquered and subsumed the inner beast. He also wields the two tools of mastery, a sickle and a goad with which he has made servants of both the plants of the wild, and the beasts of the fields. This can be shown by him standing amid a great sea of red Che grain accompanied by a plump Hwale. Anaihyo is the god of Animal Husbandry, Hunting, Farming, Domination, and the Cultvation of Self-Mastery. He is also considered the spirit god of the South, and is thus often associated with the cold and with Winter (the Mai live in the Southern hemisphere; hence it gets colder when you venture further south).