Guanche mythology is full of curiosities and certain characteristics and festivities of its own. In this article, we will discuss everything about it.
Guanche Mythology
The Guanche mythology suffered many changes due to the separation of their islands and the arrival of Christianity with the Spaniards, causing the possession of different gods and beliefs of each island.
On the island of Tenerife, origin of the Guanches, the first inhabitants were the aboriginal Canary Islanders, conformed by the diversity of people of Berber origin, called this way to the people who belonged to the autochthonous ethnic groups originating from North Africa, mainly the Canary Islands.
The great majority of those belonging to these aboriginal Canary Islanders were the Guanches; they were the only inhabitants of that area and no other native culture has been found before the Guanches.
What is Guanche mythology?
Guanche mythology is the set of beliefs that combines the magical and religious world of “pre-Christian mythology“; that is to say, of the time that precedes the arrival of “Christianity”. It is linked to the aboriginal Canarian religion of the Guanches who were the first settlers of the so-called Canary Islands where their gods, demons and ancestral spirits were found.
Origin of the Guanche mythology
The Guanches were an aboriginal population native to the Canary Islands around the 15th century before the time of the European conquest. Their records are given through the “Tamusni” (stories told from generation to generation by the Guanches of ancestral histories); for this reason we do not have a completely accurate record of the Guanche mythology.
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The tamusni tell us stories of the different encounters and misunderstandings of the aboriginal population with the conquerors at all times since the Neolithic; the Christian conquerors practically dissolved the vast majority of the Guanche culture. The Guanches were the first inhabitants of the island of Tenerife before the Spanish conquest, then by extension being known as the Canary Islands, their religion was animist and polytheist, with different gods on each island.
Characteristics of Guanche mythology
The Guanche religion stood out for having a generalized astral cult, their religion was animist where they sacramentalized the places; among them the most outstanding were Tindaya in Fuerteventura, the Teide in Tenerife, Idafe in La Palma, essentially they were rocks or mountains. Among their cults the most outstanding was the mummification of corpses; and they were also characterized by the manufacture of clay and stone idols. Their religion was full of symbols that represented their gods, demigods, genies, demons and other creatures.
Gods of the Guanche Mythology
They had a main god, “The Supreme Being”, the aboriginal Canary Islanders believed that this was a supreme god who was the creator and protector of the whole world and who lived in the heavens. However, some historians consider that this ideology was caused by the “acculturation” provoked by the Christian colonizers. This supreme being had different denominations according to each island; among his other gods the main ones were:
- Achamán: he was considered the Supreme God, the god of the sky.
- Achuguayo: he was called the God of the Moon.
- Magec: he was considered the God of the Sun.
- Chaxiraxi: he was the Mother Goddess.
- Chijoraji: he was the son of the mother goddess (chaxiraxi).
- Achuhucanac: they called this way to the God of the Rain.
- Guayota: he was really a demon, he was considered the God of Evil.
There were also other divinities but these were inferior, rather guardians of some specific places, who served as mediators between the great mother and the human beings; they called them “Dioses Paredros” also known as genies, and they also had a legion of demons which they called “Los Tibicenas” who were the children of the God of evil, Guayota.
Gods and representations in each island
- In El Hierro, the two divinities were Eraorahan (masculine) and Moneiba (feminine); where Eraorahan was a benign god and Moneiba was an evil god, they resorted to them in times of despair and both made up a single one called Aranfaybo.
- In La Gomera, they believed in a creator god called Orahan and in an evil god called Hirguan who looked like a hairy man.
- In La Palma, they believed in a solar god called Abora; they also believed in an evil god who had the shape of a woolly dog and was called Iruene.
- In Tenerife, is where they had the greatest variety of gods; they believed in the sky god Achamán representing all that was good and pure. On the other hand they had the evil god Guayota, the sun god Magec, the moon god Achuguayo, the rain god Achuhucanac and the mother goddess Chaxiraxi. They also believed in the other inferior divinities, the Wallros Gods and the Tibicenas.
- In Gran Canaria, they had as a superior god Acorán, as well as some ancestral spirits, genies and demons.
In Fuerteventura, they offered gifts in the mountains of Tindaya, which they worshipped and in which they left signs of cave engravings known as “podomorphs”. - In Lanzarote, information about their gods is unknown and there are only small findings of idol figures as in the rest of the islands.
Sacred places of Guanche mythology
According to what is known to date about the Guanche mythology, they did not have temples or specific sacred places; according to researchers, their cults were performed outdoors, especially in the mountains or under sacred trees such as dragon trees or pine trees, and sometimes in caves.
Among the mountains considered sacred is the Teide volcano; according to the Guanches there were the evil forces that were connected with fire, especially for the people of Tenerife, and they believed that it functioned as the “axis mundi or better known as the union between heaven and earth”.
For the Guanches of Gran Canaria the sacred mountains were those of Amagro and Tirma; while those of Fuerteventura, used the mountains of Tirdaya and Cardones; and those of Gomera the mountains of Calvario, the high of Garajonay and the mountain of the soothsayer.
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For the aboriginal Canary Islanders between the islands of Tenerife, La Palma and Gran Canaria they had the idea of the axis mundi with the Roque of Idafe and called it “place of mystical protection”. The garoé tree was very sacred for the inhabitants of the iron and among the caves considered as sacred places we have the Asteheyta, the mouse cave and the painted caves of Gran Canaria.
Rites of the Guanche mythology
Sacrifices
They made offerings or sacrifices in each of the islands, but all of them were of two types: cremations and libations. In the cremations, stone constructions were incinerated, essentially animal parts, legs and skulls; and the libations were made with milk or melted butter, poured in the excavations of the rock and were the most frequent sacrifice.
We also have the smoked sacrifices that consisted in the burning of herbs or wood for the interpretation of the gods through smoke and finally the human sacrifice according to the investigators there were two types the one that was carried out to honor a new king, where a volunteer guarded for a year the body of the dead king and then was thrown into the sea with the viscera of the corpse to honor the new king, and the second was once a year to throw a child into the sea to serve as mediation between the living and the dead in honor of the sun gods.
Rites
There are two types: propitiatory and funerary. The propitiatory rites were to invoke rain, those of Gran Canaria did it with branches of trees in the sacred mountains and dances, those of Tenerife did it separating the young of cattle of the mothers and sending them to high places; and those of Bimbaches fasted, cried and prayed during three days to the gods.
The best known funeral rite is that of mummification, which was similar to that of the Egyptians; according to the records found, it was not practiced in all the islands and it was in Tenerife where this technique achieved its greatest perfection. Its objective was to preserve the corpses and especially to honor them.
Guanche Mythology Priests
The Guanches had a kind of shamans or priests on each island who were in charge of carrying out the ceremonies and were the connection with their gods, to keep the inheritance of the priesthood pure the Guanches transmitted knowledge only among the same members of the family preferably from grandparents to grandchildren and had the following hierarchy:
- Guadameñe: he was located in Tenerife and was the Guanche high priest; in charge of preparing the faykanes and advising aboriginal monarchs.
- Faykan or Faican: located in Gran Canaria, their function was to direct the spiritual and religious cults.
Maguadas or Arimaguadas: in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, they were women who were dedicated to the cults and some rituals. - Kankus: from Tenerife, they were in charge of the cults to the gods and spirits of ancestors.
Samaranes: from Tenerife, they were lower grade priests in charge of the education of the young nobles and were in charge of the fertility cults for the cattle. - Samaras: from Tenerife, they were priestesses also of lower grade in charge of the education of young girls and they carried the fertility cults for agriculture.
- Babylonians: from Tenerife, they belonged to a secret priesthood group that is linked to the construction of the pyramids on the island of Tenerife.
Festivities of Guanche Mythology
Within the records we have two main celebrations of the aboriginal population of the Guanches: the feast of Beñesmén and the religious festivities of August. The festival of Beñesmén is an important agricultural festival and means “the great heats”. It was held after the harvest (with the first new moon at the end of the summer solstice) and was considered as the Guanche new year, they celebrated and carried out sports and cultural and spiritual traditions.
The religious festivities were until August 15, celebrated in honor of the mother goddess Chaxiraxi, where they made activities of strength and tribal leaders of each of the islands formed a truce to share livestock.
Beliefs of the Guanche mythology
Within the Guanche mythology, besides the existence of their gods, demi-gods, genies and demons, among other divinities, we have three important points to highlight within their beliefs.
Worship of the stars
According to the records found by archaeologists, engravings of the sun have been found in caves, vessels and pieces of clay, demonstrating that their main worship was for the sun god, but there are also indications that they worshipped the moon and some stars; although it is known that these astral cults were performed in all the islands, according to the evidence found, they had greater origin in the islands of Tenerife, La Palma and Gran Canaria.
Idolatry
In all the islands a great quantity of idols belonging to the culture of the Guanches have been found, all of them represented the fertility of the earth that was given through the mother earth. Among the most representative we have the idol of Tara, of Zonzamas, of Guatimac; and in the caves many others have been found, especially in the cave of the angels, where two idols were found in representations of angels in Tenerife. These idols have similarity with the figurines found in the Neolithic of Greece or ancient Egypt.
The belief of the life after death
According to their legends there are two versions of how their ancestors had life after death, it is worth mentioning that all the islands coincided in this belief so when they died they placed offerings and vessels for the preservation of the soul’s life. In some islands it was believed that the souls of their ancestors traveled to the sun and with each sunrise they returned to the passing of the day and then at sunset they were hidden to return the next day; while in other islands they believed that the souls of their ancestors went to the sea and returned with the waves to the shore.
Legends of Guanche mythology
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The creation of the world
For the Guanches the world was created in the following way, they believed that in the interior of the volcano Teide was the hell and they called it “Echeide” and that there lived the god of evil Guayota; They say that Guayota kidnapped the sun god Magec and took him to Echeide, then the Guanches turned to their supreme god Achamán to ask for clemency and he went to defeat Guayota and recover Magec from Echeide and once they were saved he sealed the entrance of the volcano calling it “pan de azúcar” which is the whitish tip of the crater that crowns the Teide volcano.
But then an earthquake caused the Echeide to split causing the origin of the seven islands (El Hierro as Ezeró, Lanzarote as Tyterogaka, Gran Canaria as Tamarán, La Gomera as Gomera, Fuerteventura as Erbane, Tenerife as Achined and La Palma as Benahoare) and leaving Guayota locked inside the Echeide.
The creation of Man
In the Guanche mythology it is said that at the beginning of everything there was only the supreme god Achaman, there was only emptiness and then the supreme god created the heavens, the animals, the plants and the seas and thought that he alone was enough; but one day he decided to visit the top of Echeide and thus contemplated his great work that was the world, he was amazed and felt the need to share his creation thus giving rise to the idea of creating human beings to watch over, care for and love his creation.
Conclusion
The Guanche mythology encloses a very rich and extensive culture, its religion and customs have been studied; it was transmitted and adulterated and in spite of not being able to define with certainty its deepest origins and the great diversity of divinities presented in its population, its beliefs were strong and similar in its different groups.
