Paraguay is a country rich in mythology and folklore. Much of this dates to a time long before the arrival of the Spanish. A time when the Guarani were one of a number of indigenous groups living across the land that was to become Paraguay.
The Guarani in common with the others in the region had no written language. Theirs was a purely oral language with traditions and folklore passed by word of mouth from one generation to the next.
Without any written texts there was distinct danger that upon the arrival of the Spanish much of their culture could have been lost.
It was however saved. In a large part as a result of the Jesuits taking the indigenous people from their scattered forest homes and relocating them into purpose built settlements.
Here in addition to teaching the Guarani music and Christianity the Jesuits took care to see that the traditional myths and customs were recorded and preserved.
It was inevitable that through this process their would be some loss and alteration but the great bulk of the pre contact culture was preserved.
These tales and the figures who feature in them form the bedrock around which the modern culture of Paraguay has been formed.
The first of these is the Guarani creation myth. Their description of how the world came to be.
This begins at a time when all was silence and before there was any life.
At that distant time all that existed was a universe filled with nothing more than the twinkling light of a multiude of stars. Among these and across the voids of space travelled the two first entities.
First of these was the creator god Tupa. As well as being the creator he was also god of the sun and the bringer of light.
The second of the pair was his divine counterpart. This was Arasy the moon goddess.
Although the only beings in the universe and destined to be together at first they were not. For a long time they sought each other out, chasing endlessly around the stars.
Finally the moment came when at last their paths crossed. At that moment amongst the stars they were married and joined together in partnership forever.
Once that was done the next day the divine couple descended to Earth. The place of their landing was upon the top of a hill outside Aregua in what would one day become Paraguay.
Seeing an empty land Tupa the creator then set about the task of filling it.
First he created water which formed streams and then river which filled the lakes and then the seas.
Next to bring life to the land that had not covered by water Tupa created the plants. These grew and grew until a vast forest covered the Earth.
This new land was though still silent and so next Tupa set about creating the animals to fill it. These he created in every shape and size to fill the Earth with life.
With the whole Earth now alive all that remained to be added were creatures in the form of himself and Arasy. Humans who would inherit the world he had created.
To do this Tupa took some clay which he mixed with juice from the yerba mate plant, the blood of a nighthawk, leaves from various plants and finally a centipede.
This Tupa moulded into the forms of himself and Arasy, a man and a woman, and left to dry under the hot sun.
Once the figures had dried Tupa breathed life into them. The male he named Rupave, father of the people, and the female Sypave, mother of the people.
These first members of the human race he told to go live in peace and multiply.
That done Tupa then had two final forms to bring into being. Good and evil, for without them there can be no right or wrong.
These figures were named Angatupyry for the good and Tua for the evil. Once brought into being they were let loose upon the world.
Rupave and Sypave lived good peaceful lives as Tupa had requested and had many children. Principal among these were their three sons.
These were Tume Arandu who was the wisest of all, Marangatu who was the greatest leader and Japeusa who was a trickster bringing all humankinds negative traits into the world.
His devious ways eventually caused his downfall and for that Japeusa was turned turned into a crab, forced forever to move sideways.
As for Marangatu he had a daughter who was the most beautiful in the world.
Her name was Kerana and word of he beauty reached Tua. Being created as evil to do evil he wanted nothing less than to have Kerana for himself.
To that end he stole her away to be his wife.
That tale is for another day, but for now it is enough to say that the children brought forth by their union were cursed and became the seven monsters of Guarani mythology.
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